


Even Heaven's Full of Sinners

by Levis_turtles



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angel/Demon AU, Angel/Demon Relationship, M/M, actually, all of the Ciphers want that Pine Tree booty, everyone wants the pine tree booty, its an angel thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5230805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levis_turtles/pseuds/Levis_turtles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper wakes up in heaven, only to be met with two hauntingly familiar faces (well, technically one face, but two people have it so... im gonna shut up now)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I won't start writing another fanfiction," she says, as she sits down to write another fanfiction.

Dipper woke up with a start.

He squinted as the light blinded him. Pulled from the inky depths of sleep to a room that’s walls seemed to be glowing, white lights glaring at him from every angle. There was a strange static in his ear, a buzz that reminded him of taking earphones out and being met with silence, and he vaguely remembered hitting his head in the forest. But that was _all_ he could remember. Somehow he knew his name was Dipper, and he was from Gravity Falls in Oregon, but that was about it. He didn’t know how old he was, or even that age was a thing people usually liked to know.

He was a blank slate.

“Do you know why you are here?” A voice boomed, suddenly cutting through the silence, and Dipper winced. The words echoed around in his head, strangely familiar, and a torrent of memories surged through Dipper’s mind – of a fiery blue handshake and a resonating laugh, the world in black and white. Along with them came a muted fear, like he knew he should be afraid of this man, but he wasn’t.

“Bill?” Dipper breathed. He didn’t know where the name came from, it was just there, but now that he’d spoken it, he knew it was right. Bill Cipher - the man who ruined everything. He didn’t know how he knew that, either, but it felt right.

The voice laughed, but it wasn’t like Bill’s laugh – it was softer, less menacing. “Oh, no,” the voice said, and Dipper could see a shadow forming in front of him, stepping closer. “Quite the opposite, actually.” There was a man in front of Dipper. He had pale skin, a pretty face and a shock of curly blue hair, and he was smiling gently at the boy. “My name is Will Cipher,” he said, extending a hand to Dipper – for him to shake or to help him up, Dipper didn’t know.

Before Dipper took the hand, he raised a dubious eyebrow. If he knew anything, it was to be suspicious – to trust no one. “Any relation to Bill Cipher?”

Will laughed again, and Dipper frowned. He could see the resemblance of the two – while he couldn’t remember Bill’s face, he could remember a penchant for triangles, and this Will was covered in them. After closer inspection, Dipper found that the freckles dotting Will’s cheeks were actually tiny triangles, and the zig-zag pattern across the neck of his – _was that a tunic?_ – could be perceived as triangles, too. 

Will’s laugh was different, though. The one that kept ringing through Dipper’s head was malicious, high pitch contrasting with dark intent, and it made points on Dipper’s body ache – points, he barely recalled, where he was streaked and dotted and marred with scars. 

“We’ll get to that,” Will said, taking Dipper’s hand and pulling him up from the chair. There was a flicker of something in the corner of Dipper’s eye, and for a second he thought there was a fire, but when he looked down he saw nothing but his hand. He was still holding on to Will’s, and he quickly snatched his hand away, inspecting the palm with a confused line to his brow.

Dipper barely had time to wonder whether the black triangle etched into his palm had been there before, as Will was speaking again. “Do you know where you are, Dipper?”

Dipper shook his head. He had no idea. When he’d woken up, he’d thought himself a hostage, or perhaps a suspect for some crime, taken into the police station for interrogation. But now? Things were coming back to him – the journals, the Mystery Shack, the supernatural. If he once knew where he was, he couldn’t remember now. He could only trust that his past self knew what he was doing.

“What is the last thing you remember before coming here?” Will asked again. They’d stopped walking now, and were standing in another bright white room. There was a door on each of the eight walls, and one of them was open – it wasn’t the one they’d come through.

“I hit my head,” Dipper said. Just the thought of it sent a stab of pain through his skull, and he reached up to touch his temple. There was no injury there now, and Dipper wondered how long he’d been unconscious.

“Right,” Will said. A chair had appeared behind him, and he sat down, leading Dipper to follow suit. “I don’t really know how to tell you this,” Will said, and for the first time since Dipper had met him, he sounded unsure of himself. “Most people know where they are as soon as they wake up.”

Dipper frowned. “Where am I?” He was starting to worry, now. There was a nagging feeling tugging at him, like there was something he should know, he just wasn’t putting the pieces together right. _This is the mindscape_ , he thought, but some all-knowing part of his mind dismissed it immediately. _Wrong_ , it said.

Will cleared his throat. “You’re in heaven,” he said.

Dipper blinked at him. Once, then twice and thrice. He nodded slowly, allowing this blue haired man’s words to sink in.

And then he started freaking out.

Dipper shot up from his chair, racing across the room to the nearest door. He pulled on the triangular doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. He went to the next door, and the next, but none would open for him. _This has to be a trick_ , he thought. _This is Bill, and he’s messing with me. We’re in the mindscape; all I have to do is find the way out_.

Dipper froze at the seventh door, knowing that the handle wouldn’t turn before he even touched it. He was trapped here, unless… Casting a glance at the yawning black hole on the eighth wall, Dipper ran for the open door.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Will warned. He was still sat at the centre of the room, one leg crossed over the other as he sipped at a dainty cup of tea, watching Dipper with curious eyes that belied his bored stance.

Dipper didn’t listen, sliding through the door and into the darkness without so much as a second glance behind him.

He ground to a halt in this new room, meeting a space of pure darkness, as if none of the light from the other room could spill in. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and when they did, he became startlingly aware of the cold in the room. The hairs on his arms stood on end, and an icy chill split him in half, freezing him from the inside out. The void that surrounded him from every angle gaped at him, pitch black but for the bright lights dotting it like stars at midnight.

The hairs at the back of Dipper’s neck stood on end, and he noticed a presence at his side, a quiet snarl slowly growing louder as Dipper turned jaggedly to look at it. There were chains draping down from a point in the endless room, thick and metal and moving. Dipper followed the chains with his eyes, and attached to them, he found a creature. It was tall and skinny, with shaggy yellow hair and hollow eyes that seemed darker even than the room they stared out at. Dipper was tempted to call it a man, until he saw the feral look in those eyes, and realised that any ounce of humanity this thing once had was long gone by now.

The chains were clamped around its wrists and ankles, dripping with blood that looked black in the dimly lit room, gleaming as it dribbled down the creature’s skin. It strained against its bounds, as close to Dipper as it could get, which wasn’t very close but still close enough for Dipper to see the sharp teeth hidden behind snarling lips. There was a shift in those black-hole eyes, and Dipper felt an icy gaze on him just seconds before that snarl shifted to a grin, wide and dangerous. “Pine Tree,” the creature cooed, demonic voice dripping with deceptive affection, and Dipper took a step back – straight into a solid chest.

Will’s arms caught hold of Dipper just a second before he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think, comments give me life <3


	2. Chapter 2

When Dipper came to, the world was no longer dark, nor was it blindingly bright. There was a heavy weight on his legs, and he took a few seconds to recognise it as the pig. Dipper wriggled his legs a little to try and budge him, but when the only reaction he received was an annoyed grunt, he gave up.

“I had the weirdest dream,” Dipper said – yes, he was talking to a pig, and no, he did not deserve to be judged for it. “Bill was there,” Dipper explained to Waddles, who shifted, taking some of the stress from Dipper’s legs, “and some other dude calling himself Will, and I-”

Dipper was cut off by a low chuckle, and his eyes flew open just in time to see a blond head grinning down at him. “Oh, Pine Tree, I know all of your dreams,” the creature from the dark room purred, “and that wasn’t one of them.”

Dipper bolted up, trying to scramble back, only to find that he was being pinned to the floor by something hot and heavy. He stared down at the weight on his legs, expecting to find… he didn’t know what he thought he’d find, but it certainly wasn’t the demon’s clawed hand, holding him down so that he couldn’t move. “Bill,” Dipper said, and he cringed when his voice broke. 

The demon grinned. “Yes, Pine Tree?” He leaned closer to Dipper, putting his weight on Dipper’s knee and sending a spike of pain up his leg, his head cocked to the side curiously, and a smile tugged at his lips – still grotesque and bloody and veiling sharp white teeth.

Dipper gulped, leaning as far back as he could (which wasn’t very far - there was a wall behind him). He opened his mouth to say something, and Bill continued to lean closer, eyeing Dipper’s lips with a gaze that was nothing if not sultry. For a moment, Dipper thought Bill was going to try to kiss him, but the demon was cut off by the loud slam of a door.

“Bill!” Will scolded, and the Bill’s head snapped to the side to glare at the blue-haired man. “If you could please leave the boy alone,” Will said, calmly stepping towards Dipper, who was leaning as far back into the corner as he could get. Will extended a hand to Dipper, which the boy gladly took, relieved to be (at least momentarily) out of the dream demon’s reach. “Do forgive his manners,” Will said to Dipper, leading him by the hand to a white armchair just a few feet away from them. “He’s been in hell for a time out, and it usually leaves him a little… _depraved_.”

Dipper laughed at that, a nervous chuckle at the prospect of Bill Cipher receiving a ‘time-out’. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but he assumed that if he was in heaven, he was probably dead. That couldn’t be good…

Will pushed Dipper down in the chair, brandishing a cup of tea from thin air and holding it out to him. Dipper shook his head and held out a hand to refuse, but Will implored, “Drink it, please – it’ll help.”

“Oh, leave him,” Bill said, rolling his eyes from his spot on the floor. “I wanna see him faint again!” 

Dipper glared, and Will sighed. 

“Bill,” he said, and it seemed that was all was needed for Bill’s grin to fall off his face, replaced with a kind of stoic concentration. Dipper raised an eyebrow at no one in particular, and Bill growled at him, not taking the obedient expression off his face.

Will shook his head in a way that was almost fond, and Dipper wondered what the deal with these two was. They were twins, that much was obvious, though other than their faces Dipper could already tell they were nothing alike.

Bill was looking much more human than he had been in the room, with his hair clean of blood and pushed back off his face, a few loose strands curling haphazardly against his forehead. He was wearing a sharp black suit, yellow socks peeking out from under his trousers where they’d been pulled tight by his crossed legs. There was no blood there, either – in fact, the only blood on him at all was that on his lips, staining the skin red. Dipper couldn’t see the spaces on his ankles and wrists where the chains had been clamped, but he guessed that they were healed now.

Will cleared his throat, snapping Dipper out of his reverie, and Will smiled cautiously at Dipper. “Are you okay now? We’ve a lot of important things to talk about.”

“We do?” Bill barked from the floor. “Why don’t you just ship ‘im off to hell already? I wanna see him scream when the harpies get to him.” A genuine smile crossed his lips, and something about it made Dipper’s heart drop down to his stomach. He still couldn’t remember what Bill did to him – the last thing he could remember of the demon was getting his body jacked, but surely that didn’t warrant a reaction like this. Something in their past had caused Dipper to fear Bill, and until he knew what that was, he wasn’t going to risk crossing him.

Will shot Bill a warning glance, and the demon’s mouth snapped shut, but there was still an excited fire behind his eyes, and Dipper just knew that Bill couldn’t wait to push him into the fiery pit. 

“Because,” Will began to explain, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back in his chair. “He’s not going to hell.”

Bill’s eyes grew wide, disbelieving, and he calmly pronounced a: “What.” Dipper looked to Will, confused, but the blue-haired man was looking at Bill expectantly, waiting for something. Taking this as a cue, Bill waved a hand, and a piece of paper appeared between his fingers, the black page unfurling to reveal a scroll about three feet in length. Bill cleared his throat, “The sins and wrongdoings of Dipper Pines,” he read, scanning the sheet with a smirk. “Cheating on a trigonometry test when he was fifteen – really, Pine Tree? I would have thought you knew a lot about triangles by then.” Dipper’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Bill cackled, continuing, “breaking and entering at a secure government facility when he was sixteen,” Bill’s eyes slid further down the page, and he chucked, “ _premarital_ sex with a member of the _same_ _gender_ when he was seventeen. Ooh, Pine Tree, you’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you.” Bill’s smirk turned into an outright grin, and the paper vanished in a curl of blue flame, turning to a pile of ash and blowing away in a sudden gust of wind. 

Will ignored his brother, turning to Dipper with a look that seemed to say ‘you see what I have to put up with?’, and Dipper bit his lip to smother a smile. “You’re not going to hell,” Will said to him. “You should be – your sins are piled up like you wouldn’t believe, and with no church visits in over a decade you should be going straight to the seventh circle,” Will paused, and Bill relished the anxiety that rolled off of Dipper in waves. “But heaven has other plans for you,” Will finished.

Dipper looked from Will to Bill, who was staring at the former with a calculating look, his eyes narrowed and hard. “What kind of plans?” He asked, voicing Dipper’s question before he got the chance.

“His soul has been identified as having a particular wavelength,” Will went on, talking to Bill and Dipper at the same time. “A wavelength that we’ve been looking for since the fall.” Dipper made a confused noise, and Will’s blue eyes shifted to him, understanding within them. “When the angels fell to hell and became demons, the split was almost equal. Every demon was matched with an angel, who was charged to make sure they didn’t do anything too… _demonic_. The good of the angels and the bad of the demons cancelled each other out, and that’s how it’s been for every angel and every demon since. Except for one…”

Will’s gaze slid to Bill, and Dipper understood that Bill must be the demon without an angelic counterpart. Bill’s black eyes were alight now, blue streaks of lightning darting through them as he glared at Will. “You’d better not be suggesting,” he growled, “what I think you’re trying to suggest.” Will’s lips twitched, almost like a smile, and Bill’s glare intensified. “Will-”

“I’m sorry, Bill,” Will said, eyeing Bill as if he expected the demon to fly off the handle at any second. “But you made the promise just like everyone else – when we find a soul to match yours, it would be bound to yours. It was one of the conditions.”

Bill snarled, “Find someone else.” 

“Uh…?” Dipper cut in, and the identical faces of the Ciphers turned on him, one patient and the other ferocious. “Sorry to interrupt… _whatever_ this is,” he waved in their general direction, “but can I ask what any of this has to do with me?”

Bill laughed at this, a mocking cackle. “Christ, Pine Tree, why did I ever think you were smart?”

Will ignored his comment. “Dipper, your soul is a perfect match to Bill’s in power and in strength, but the complete opposite in moral and spirit. Every demon gets an angel.”

Dipper blinked at him. “And you think that I’m-?”

Will nodded, “Yes.”

Dipper shifted his gaze to Bill, “And there’s no way I’m getting out of this?”

Bill shook his head, “Nope.”

Dipper nodded, staring at his hands. “Right… okay…” 

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Will said, reaching out to touch Dipper’s knee comfortingly. “Take all the time you need,” he breathed a little laugh, and the sound of it warmed Dipper through, sending a heat to his cheeks that he severely hoped neither of the Ciphers could see. “It’s not like anyone here’s in danger of dying before you come to terms with your situation.”

“I might just kill myself if you keep looking at him like that, though,” Bill murmured. Dipper didn’t hear him, but Will did, and he pouted at his brother.

Dipper frowned at the two, not entirely sure about the context of Will’s pout and Bill’s… Dipper didn’t even know what to call it, but it reminded him of the feeling you get when you eat a food you don’t like.

“So, um,” he started, cutting through the awkward silence with about as much grace as a bull in a china shop, “what exactly does this whole thing entail?” 

Bill grinned at Dipper, all sharp teeth and cruel eyes, and it sent a shiver down Dipper’s spine. “Well, you’ve basically gained all the powers that I possess as well as the knowledge of the ages - as soon as all that fuzz in your head clears up, that is - and you’ve unlimited access to the three realms,” his smile turned teasing then and he winked at Dipper, “all with the added benefit of me for no extra charge.” 

“Goodie,” Dipper deadpanned, and Will bit back a smile, hiding his mouth behind his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams eternally* I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapters are so darn short - like, a sixth of what i usually write. but oh well, here we have it - chapter three of the fic that i still haven't got a plot for!! yay!!

Everything was a blur after that, moving so fast that Dipper didn’t even get a chance to think before he was dumped in a human hotel with the brief instructions to ‘not let him hurt anyone’.

Bill hadn’t really stopped glaring at Dipper since Will had told him that no, he wasn’t allowed to kill Dipper and yes, he would be in trouble if Dipper woke up to find that his skin had ‘somehow’ been turned inside out. Bill was angry, but then Dipper suspected that he always was, a barely contained rage constantly simmering just below the surface, ready to spit at and burn anyone who got too close. 

The icy feeling had crept back into his veins as soon as Will had left them alone, walking away with a calm collectiveness that Dipper thought was a bit too much like something Bill would do. It was stupid, really, considering he’d only just met the guy, but something about the cool, calm defiance Will displayed felt… _wrong_.

He still couldn’t get over the power Will seemed to have over Bill, though, but he suspected it was all a ruse. Bill would act like a loyal subordinate, doing as he was told, until the time came that he didn’t feel like it anymore. And then, Dipper feared, there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him.

Except, of course, there _was_ someone who could stop Bill. _Him_. Dipper Pines, the possessor of the only soul in the universe with power equalling Bill’s. It was a shame he didn’t know how to use it, but with an eternity to practice, he was sure that soon enough he’d be just as skilled as the demon. Speaking of…

Bill was sprawled on a bed, his face buried in a pillow, where it had been for a solid five minutes. Dipper was just starting to worry that Bill couldn’t breathe when he realised that one, he didn’t care, and two, Bill was a demon – he didn’t need to breathe. Neither did he, technically, but it was a habit that he didn’t feel like shaking just yet.

On his bed, Bill groaned and rolled over, tossing an arm over his eyes as he sucked in a deep breath, releasing it as a heavy sigh. He seemed to have forgotten Dipper the instant they’d arrived in the human world, since Dipper had voted against hell and Will had refused to let Bill into heaven. ‘Not after last time,’ Will had said, and Dipper made it his mission to find out what exactly Bill had done last time he’d been let through the pearly white gates. Dipper had a nagging feeling that Bill would ditch him as soon as he turned his back, since a Dipper that could no longer dream was a boring Dipper and thus there was no reason for Bill to stick around.

Dipper would be damned if he let Bill go, though – the way Will had smiled at him when they’d left heaven, as if he’d finally found the thing he’d been looking for for literal millennia, urged Dipper to do his best at this, even though he had no idea what _this_ was supposed to be.

He supposed it couldn’t hurt to ask…

“Hey, Bill?” Dipper said quietly, kicking a leg out to nudge Bill’s mattress, just in case he didn’t hear him. 

“Bill doesn’t want anything to do with you,” Bill said, voice muffled by the thin arm tossed over his mouth. “Leave a message and he’ll be sure to ignore it because he hates you.”

The brunet rolled his eyes, “Dipper thinks you’re acting like a child.” 

“Says the guy referring to himself in the third person,” Bill retorted. 

Dipper resisted the urge to say ‘you started it’, swallowing his childish comeback with a sigh. “I just want to know what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m kind of new to this,” Dipper said. 

Bill took his arms away from his face, turning to look at Dipper with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “I’ll tell you,” he said, “for a price.”

Dipper groaned, falling backwards on the bed and letting himself bounce on the springy mattress. Of _course_ Bill would want to make a deal – how could he have forgotten about that? That was literally Bill’s thing. But then, if he knew that, he must have made a deal with Bill before, and it couldn’t have been that bad if he was still here to tell the tale, or, well… vaguely remember the tale. “Fine,” he said.

Bill’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but they lowered almost instantly, his expression turning guarded. “Don't try tricking me, kid – I will hurt you, to hell with what my brother has to say.”

Dipper frowned at that. “I wasn’t trying to trick you,” he said, “I’m an angel – we don’t do shit like that.” Dipper pointed at a space above his head, where he hoped there was a floating golden halo, but considering that Will hadn’t had one and Bill didn’t have horns, he supposed there was probably nothing there.

“You also don’t say ‘shit’, but here we are.”

“Touché,” Dipper said with a smirk, but he let it drop when Bill continued to stare at him like he was bird crap on a freshly washed car. “Name your price.”

“Three innocent souls.” 

Dipper laughed, shortly. “No.” 

“A favour, then.” 

“Is the favour going to be to get you three innocent souls?”

Bill cursed under his breath. “Fine. I’ll tell you if-” Before Dipper could smile triumphantly, Bill held up a finger, “if you promise not to tell my brother something.” 

“Not to tell him what?” Dipper asked.

Bill laughed humourlessly, “I’m not going to tell you until we shake on it,” Bill said. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Shooting Star?”

Dipper froze, a picture of a laughing girl with long brown hair and a bright pink sweater forming in is mind. The more he focused on her, the more she faded away, leaving only a sweet-sounding laugh behind. “Who was that?” Dipper asked, speaking to no one in particular, and Bill didn’t answer him, simply maintaining his bored expression as he watched Dipper, calculating his every move. Dipper shook his head, and the girl vanished, leaving that gaping hole in his chest wide open. Beforehand, he’d assumed was where his soul had been, but now…

“Fine,” Dipper said, extending his hand, and the demon was quick to grab hold, icy fire lighting up their hands as soon as the skin touched.

Bill grinned, keeping hold of Dipper’s hand for a moment longer than he needed to, keeping his smile shallow in the hopes of freaking the kid out. Dipper didn’t flinch. Bill snatched his hand back, turning away from Dipper with a swing in his step. “Well, see ya kid!” Bill called over his shoulder, already heading towards the hotel door. “I’ll be back when I feel like it – don’t wait up for me.” 

“What?” Dipper scrambled off the bed, scurrying after Bill and halting him with a hand on his shoulder. “Bill, you can’t-”

In a flash, Bill had whirled on Dipper, catching his wrist and pulling it towards him, their noses inches apart. “I don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what I can and can’t do,” Bill growled, and Dipper fought to keep his expression stern as Bill’s eyes bored into him, the lightning flashes looking like they could spill out at any second to strike him down.

Dipper thought about calling Will – he could, the angel had constructed a mental link between them, and if Dipper needed his assistance, all he had to do was ask. But he had no doubt that this was what Bill wanted him to keep from his brother, and he couldn’t very well go back on the deal now. If only he’d thought of that before…

“You’re right,” Dipper said, and Bill grinned, releasing Dipper’s wrist but not recreating any of the space between them. Dipper would be damned if he was the first to step back, so he stayed put, focus flickering from one of Bill’s eyes to the other as he said, “But you can’t stop me from coming along.”

Bill leaned back a fraction, head cocked to the side as he chuckled darkly. “You don’t wanna come, kid. Trust me.”

 _Trust him?_ “Over my dead body.”

“ _That_ ,” Bill snapped, “can be arranged.”

He turned on his heel, once again taking steps towards the door and, once again, being halted by Dipper’s hand – on his elbow this time. “I’m coming,” Dipper said, the tone of his voice precluding any thoughts Bill had of ditching him.

The demon sighed, “Your funeral.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you everyone who left comments saying such lovely things about this fic, i blush, you're all amazing


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drumroll* iiiiiiintroducing Tad Strange, demonic asshole extraordinaire!!!! (i love him so much)

“If you don’t keep up I’ll leave you behind,” Bill said, somehow managing to be heard over the crowd of people they were barging through. Bill was cradling a glass, somehow managing to swirl his martini (without spilling any) and weave through the throngs of dancers at the same time.

Dipper trailed after him, quite decidedly less graceful than the demon, his shoulders colliding with anyone who got too close. He tried making himself as small as possible, arms folding in and out of the way, but he somehow still managed to crash into every person swaying within two feet of him. 

“Go ahead,” Dipper replied when he could, waiting first for a break in the hoards of bodies writhing to the ear shattering music.

Bill sighed, and in one swift movement he whirled around and wrapped an arm around Dipper’s shoulders, discarding his glass in the hand of a nearby dancer. He continued to barge through the crowd immediately, dragging Dipper with him, and the people parted easily for them. “I can’t leave you behind,” Bill said, his voice low and intimidating, “because if you die, I die, because my brother will kill me. And while your life is less than important to me, mine is not.”

Dipper said nothing in return, just let Bill guide him around the back of the stage and through a door marked with a small golden triangle inside a larger purple square. 

The door was slammed shut behind them, and Bill finally let go of Dipper’s arm – a good thing, because his fingers were starting to go numb. He’d definitely have a bruise in the morning.

“Do you have it?” Bill asked, and it was only then that Dipper noticed the shadows around the walls of the room wrapped around a person, their luminous eyes glaring out from the darkness. The person opened their mouth to answer, but was cut off by Bill’s shrill laugh. “Of you course you have it,” he said, shaking his head at himself, “because if you didn’t,” Bill took a step towards the shrouded figure, “you would have been too afraid to show up.”

The figure in the shadows was silent, and for a few seconds the only sound Dipper could hear was his own hart pounding in his chest. But then, just when Dipper had resigned himself to possible hours of this tense silence, the person laughed. A tall figure stepped out of his dark cover then, his neck bowed low to shield his eyes from the glare of the fluorescent lights, and when he raised his head, Dipper had to hold back a gasp. This man – he knew him. Not from his life before death or from the places he’d been since he’d woken up dead. He knew this man from his dreams – no, his nightmares.

“Taddy!” Bill grinned, stepping forward and pulling the man into a tight hug. He was dressed formally for a run-down club such as this, with a pinstripe suit and gold-topped cane. His hair was a thick black sheet shielding one half of his face, and on the other half a wide grin split his features in two. His eyes were a dark blue, almost purple, with a rectangular pupil running vertically through the middle.

“Bill,” Tad purred, smacking the blond demon hard on the back. He leaned back in the blond demon’s arms and kissed Bill tersely on the mouth, before pulling back, his eyes shifting to Dipper. A sly smirk grew slowly across his face, “Who’s this?”

Bill took a step back from Tad, moving to partially shield Dipper. “Demon in training,” he explained, and when Dipper looked at him with alarm, Bill rolled his eyes in a way that said ‘just go with it, kid’.

Dipper did, and when Tad took a few steps towards Dipper, circling him like a shark would circle its prey, Dipper kept still, forcing his heart rate and breathing the remain steady. Tad’s fingers reached out to idly trace the curve of Dipper’s spine, and his smirk was audible in his voice when he said, “Oh, he’s nice.”

Bill’s stance was rigid, and he was quick to snake an arm around Dipper’s waist and pull him tight against his side. “He’s mine,” he snarled at Tad.

Tad laughed at that. “Well surely you don’t mind sharing,” he said, and reached a hand out for Dipper to shake.

Bill took a step back, taking Dipper with him and leaving the angel out of Tad’s reach. “Don’t touch my stuff,” he growled.

“I don’t belong to you,” Dipper snapped, and he used Bill’s momentary surprise to detach the demon’s arm from his waist. Tad was smirking at the two, and when Dipper held out his hand for the other demon – he assumed Tad was a demon, anyway, Bill would never let a mortal live after disobeying him _twice_. He was surprised when the fingers that wrapped around his own were not stiflingly hot like Bill’s, but icy cold. Tad bowed low, and pressed a kiss to Dipper’s hand and- Dipper hoped he imagined the tongue darting out to lick his skin.

Bill was tense, but when Tad let go of Dipper with nothing more than a sultry chuckle at the heat rising to the angel’s cheeks, Bill relaxed, but only for a second, because Tad should have sensed what Dipper was. When a demon touched an angel… it was indescribable, and it was damn noticeable. Tad wouldn’t have just… ignored it.

Bill took hold of Dipper’s hand from behind and tried to tug him back, but Dipper stood his ground, resisting the demon’s strength with an equal power that was more than a touch surprising. “Pine-” Bill began, but Dipper cast a look over his shoulder that stunned the demon to silence.

Tad chuckled, reclaiming both Bill and Dipper’s attention. Tad only had eyes for Dipper when he said, “He’s feisty,” and when Dipper looked down to the floor, not sure how to respond to that, Tad would a hand around Dipper’s wrist, tugging him close. “I like that,” he purred.

Dipper tried to remove himself from Tad’s hold, but the purple demon wouldn’t allow it, and at that, Bill lost all of his patience. “Well that’s good to know,” he said to Tad, stepping forward and yanking the taller demon’s hand away from the angel. “We’re leaving now,” he said, and before Tad could respond he’d grabbed Dipper roughly by the back of the neck and dragged him out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapters are so short wtf


	5. Chapter 5

“What the hell was that?” Bill snarled as soon as they were out of the back room. He still had Dipper by the back of the neck, and was steering him back towards the dance floor. Dipper didn’t answer, and Bill shoved him against a wall, pinning him there with a hand to his shoulder. “When I tell you to do something,” Bill growled, “you do it.” 

“You didn’t tell me to do anything!” Dipper argued. 

“It was implied!” 

Dipper scoffed, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe the situation he was in. “So now I have to know when you want me to do something?”

“If you want your head to remain on your shoulders, yes!”

Dipper reached an arm between them and shoved Bill away from him, shaking his head and storming away from the demon with his arms crossed over his chest. Bill ran to catch up and followed close behind as Dipper walked towards the bar, his face red with anger.

Bill wound his fingers around Dipper’s forearm, and the boy immediately yanked himself free, turning to face Bill with a frown. “Will you just leave me alone?”

Bill grit his teeth, like he was doing all he could not to come through on his threat, and he shook his head. Hurting Dipper would be stupid, especially with Will breathing down his neck, watching his every move like a goddamn hawk. 

Dipper heaved a sigh and turned away from the demon once more, heading towards the crowded bar. He leaned against the solid wood, and a tender noticed him immediately, skipping over the other patrons to deal with Dipper first. Bill stepped up behind Dipper, glaring at the smartly dressed barkeep and laying a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. The boy’s heavenly aura would attract anyone with less than perfect self control, and no one wanted to see what would happen if Dipper got hurt.

At the irrefutable fuming look Dipper threw him, the demon waved a hand, pulling a thin piece of plastic out from thin air and tucking into Dipper’s back pocket. He laughed when the angel jumped, his eyes going wide with shock.

Frowning, Dipper took the plastic back out of his pocket, studying the coloured front. He coughed a laugh when he saw the name printed next to his picture. “John Smith?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Was that the best you could come up with?”

“It was a rushed job,” Bill said, taking the drink Dipper had ordered from the bar tender and sipping on it absently – it was bitter, something he supposed Dipper drank to assert that ‘manly man male dominance’ he was always so concerned about. 

“When did you even get this?” Dipper asked, still staring at the card. He studied his picture carefully – it was recent, but he didn’t remember having it taken.

“About five minutes ago,” Bill said. “That’s what I needed to see Tad for.”

“Oh,” Dipper breathed, then looking up at Bill, a small smile made his lips twitch. “Thanks.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You’ve only got it because I can’t do anything without you and you can’t do anything without _that_.” Bill plucked the card out of Dipper’s hand and placed it in his jacket pocket, meeting the green stare of the bartender as he slid his hand over Dipper’s hip. “It was all for personal gain, I assure you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why am i so bad at writing them hating each other?????


	6. Chapter 6

Flashing lights.

Screaming Tires.

A lonely scream in the darkness.

Then nothing. That was how it always ended. A dark, lonely void with nothing but freezing hot blackness to hold him aloft. 

He had been told he wouldn’t be able to sleep – that he wouldn’t need to sleep, or dream, or even rest. He was dead. There was no heart pounding in his chest, no blood thrumming through his veins. He was empty.

He opened his eyes to that same nothing, a bare white ceiling above him, a room set in darkness but for the orange glow of the motel sign outside. Bill was lying on a bed less than three feet away from him, his eyes closed as he retreated inside his mind. The demon had perfected the art of bursting his own eardrums so that he wouldn’t be interrupted by Dipper’s, and he quotes, ‘torrid sleep-screaming’. 

Dipper really wished Bill hadn’t phrased it like that. 

He also wished that Bill would put down a towel when he planned on bleeding out on things, like he was doing now, the blood from his ears dripping down his neck and staining the bed sheets. The last time the owner of the motel had been in the room to collect payment, the only explanation Bill had for the blood was ‘kinky buttsex with an unbroken virgin’. 

That poor old man hadn’t looked at Dipper the same in weeks.

Or was it months? 

Or years… 

Dipper had no idea how long he’d been here. He didn’t know where he was; didn’t know how many nights it had been since he’d been spat out of heaven with a demon tethered to his soul.

He hadn’t been out of the cheap motel room since that first night with Bill, though the same couldn’t be said about the demon. Sometimes, when Bill thought Dipper was sleeping, he would sneak out. Dipper never tried to stop him.

Dipper was barely surprised when a throat was cleared next to him. He looked at Bill, eyes half lidded and void of expression as he blankly watched the demon’s mouth screw up in frustration. He’d gotten a kick out of scaring Dipper shitless when they’d first started living together, so Dipper had acquired one for denying Bill that pleasure. 

“What?” The angel asked. 

Bill rose from Dipper’s bedside and reached for his jacket, pulling the aged leather over his shoulders. “I’m gonna go get food. Coming?”

Dipper rolled his eyes, “I think you can make it to the vending machine and back without committing a mass homicide.”

Bill laughed. “Depends on who I encounter, really.” Bill grinned at the angel as he skipped across the motel room, ducking through the door and slamming it behind him with a cackle that probably sounded a lot more menacing in his head.

Dipper couldn’t help but smile as Bill walked past the window, flipping Dipper off through the glass.

“Do you always get that look on your face when you see him?” An amused voice asked. Dipper jumped, sighing with relief when he saw that it was only Will.

“Only when he’s leaving,” Dipper confirmed, smiling a little at the angel. Will had visited Dipper a few times to interrupt his dreams and inquire about Bill, but he had never been there in person. “Why are you here?” 

Will raised an eyebrow, settling down on the armchair against the far wall and kicking one leg over the other. “No need to sound pleased to see me.” He looked at Dipper with a coy smile, his eyes playful. “I just came to check in on you. See how you’re handling him – a lot of people would have gone mad, being with him this long.”

Dipper shrugged. “Things are fine,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I was fond of him but he’s certainly not as bad as I remember.”

For a moment Will looked angry – really, really angry – but that was replaced with innocent curiosity so quickly that Dipper thought he’d imagined it. “You remember?”

“Not a lot,” Dipper explained, “but some things, yes. I remember a house, and I remember doing things that I wasn’t in control of – I think that was Bill’s fault, but I don’t know whether to ask him about it. And…” 

Will frowned, scooting closer to Dipper and laying a hand on his thigh, his eyes comforting and urging him on. “And?”

“And I remember a girl,” Dipper said. “I don’t know who she is, but she’s there in every one of my dreams.”

“What is she doing?” Will asked, his eyebrows furrowing over hooded eyes. Dipper wasn’t supposed to be remembering things, not yet. Not until he said so.

Dipper sighed, and he looked away from Will in order to hide a pained expression. “She’s screaming.”

“Well isn’t this sweet!” Bill’s voice suddenly chimed in, and both Dipper’s and Will’s heads turned to where Bill was standing in the open doorway, his eyes boring into the spot where Will was touching Dipper. “Tell me,” Bill began, stepping into the room and dropping his plastic bag to the ground, “how often do you two hold these secret trysts when I’m not around?”

“That’s really none of your concern,” Will said. He didn’t move his hand from Dipper’s thigh, and he could tell it was infuriating his brother. Just to see what he would do, Will dug his fingers into Dipper’s flesh, and Bill almost blew a gasket right there.

Dipper laughed a little, rolling his eyes at the demon. “Bill, we were just talking about my progress with-”

Bill’s turned his eyes on Dipper, the black irises burning as the took in the light blush on the boy’s cheeks – Bill ignored the voice in his head that said that Dipper’s face always looked like that in favour of assuming Dipper was blushing for Will. “Yeah,” he snapped, “I bet he knows all about your progress, doesn’t he Pine Tree?”

Dipper’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What does that even mean?”

“I think you know exactly what it means,” Bill growled. He took a step closer to Dipper, and he could feel his veins burning under his skin – raw fury begging to manifest in his physical form; to turn him into a monster. Pushing that anger down, Bill pointed an accusatory finger at Dipper. “You’re canoodling with my brother!”

Dipper actually laughed at that – the nerve of this kid! “You’re insane,” Dipper said. 

“Pointing that out isn’t gonna make it any less true, kiddo,” Bill laughed. He crossed his arms over his chest, rocking back on his heels as he cast his gaze from Dipper to his brother – who still had his hand on the kid’s leg! “If nothing’s going on why is he touching you like that?”

“Oh my god!” Dipper groaned. He stood up from his seat on his bed, knocking Will’s hand away as he did so and stormed past Bill.

“Oh no,” Bill ground out, catching Dipper’s arm before the angel could reach the door. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Whirling on the demon, Dipper tore his arm out of Bill’s grasp – Bill kept forgetting that the kid was just as strong as him now. “Try and stop me,” Dipper said through grit teeth. Dipper looked at Will then, and Bill almost lost it at the way Dipper’s eyes softened when he looked upon the angel. “I’ll talk to you later,” he said.

Will smiled, “I look forward to it,” and Dipper smiled back.

Bill folded his arms over his chest, muttering, “Yeah I bet you do,” under his breath. His words were punctuated by Dipper slamming the door in his face.


	7. Chapter 7

Dipper bit his lip as he eased the motel room door open, hoping to all hope that it wouldn’t creak. He gave a silent cheer of celebration when the door made it to the halfway point without a sound, and Dipper crept into the room, shutting the door silently behind him.

Bill was sprawled out on his bed, still fully clothed – shoes and socks and everything. He was breathing slowly, as one did in sleep, his breath whistling as it passed through his teeth. His arm was slung over his face, obscuring his eyes, and his mouth was hanging just slightly open.

He looked too innocent like this – so much so that Dipper had to remind himself that Bill was not his friend, or his family or anything so ludicrous as that. Bill Cipher was an unstable force that could wipe out the planet if Dipper let him. Just the thought that it was only him that stood between Bill and world domination was enough to have his stomach cramping up – an anxious twitch he’d never quite grown out of.

Dipper eased his way past Bill’s bed, careful not to wake the sleeping demon. It reminded him of a game he had played as a child, where he would try not to get caught as he crept past his- his… the memory ended there, just as the girl sprawled on the floor of the meadow turned to face him. Dipper released a quiet growl of frustration – every time he remembered something concerning that girl he drew a blank. It felt like having the melody of a song stuck in his head but no lyrics, like knowing the plot of a book but being unable to recall its title.

Dipper had just about made it to his bed when-

“Where have you been?”

Freezing in his place, Dipper sighed. He knew it was too good to last. He turned and flopped down on his own mattress, meeting Bill’s inquisitive stare with one of his own. “Why do you want to know?”

Bill didn’t want to admit that he’d been out to look for Dipper twice and was unable to find him on both occasions. It was beginning to bother him – _not_ worry; there was no way that Bill Cipher was worrying about a pathetic meat sack masquerading as an angelic guardian. He just knew that there were people out there that would kill Dipper if they ever happened upon him, and then Will would kill him and that just wouldn’t do. “Call me curious,” he said with a shrug. 

“Oh, I’d call you more than that,” Dipper muttered. Bill showed no sigh of having heard him, and Dipper shook his head. “I went for a walk. Had a look around.” Bill narrowed his eyes on Dipper – his pulse was steady and his body temperature hadn’t risen, so he was probably telling the truth. “I wanted to know where we were.”

Bill frowned. “You could have asked me.”

Dipper snorted at that. “Yeah,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “because out of all the feeling I have for you, trust is at the top of the list.”

Bill was not amused. “Sarcasm is only funny when I do it.”

“Not really,” Dipper whispered, not sure whether he expected Bill to hear him or not.

Bill elected to ignore that. “So, did you see anyone?” He asked. “Talk to anybody?”

Dipper shook his head, “No.”

Bill raised a sceptical eyebrow, “Will?”

Dipper buried his face in his hands. “Could you drop that, please?” He groaned, raising his eyes just enough to meet Bill’s. “He checks in to see how I’m doing with all of this,” Dipper gestured to the room, and to Bill, “which is more than I can say about you! In case it slipped your notice, I’m dead, which royally freaked me out because the last solid memory I have is curling up with a book! And the few _other_ memories I have – which are fragmented and mean absolutely nothing - are telling me that I should get a million miles away from the one person whose side I can never leave! And in all of this mess, Will is the one thing I know I can trust! So _excuse me_ for ‘canoodling’ with your brother, Bill. I’ll be sure not to do it again – I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings or anything.” 

Bill didn’t bat an eyelash through all of this. He was silent for a moment after Dipper finished, the boy red in the face and breathing hard. Bill frowned, “How do you know you can trust him?”

This threw Dipper for a loop. He blinked slowly, not sure what sort of an answer Bill would expect. “Uh-” he tried, “I- he’s an _angel_.”

“An angel that left you with _me_ , no matter how…” Bill paused, his nose scrunching up as he forced out the next word almost as if it pained him to say it, “ _scared_ of me you are.”

“I’m not scared of you,” Dipper snapped, defensive. “More like… _cautious_.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “Either way, there’s more to Will than you may think. Talk to him if you must, but for the love of all your three brain cells do not put your trust in him.”

Dipper sighed, ignoring the insults – honestly, he suspected a seven year old could come up with better, anyway. Flopping sideways on the bed and rolling over to stare at the ceiling, Dipper said, “That’s rich, coming from you.”

Bill snorted, mirroring Dipper’s position on his own bed. He was silent for a long moment, listening to Dipper’s breathing slow as he neared sleep. Then, “We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?” Dipper turned to look at Bill, propping himself up on an elbow as he searched the demon’s face in the dark.

“We’ve been here a while now,” Bill explained. He didn’t meet Dipper’s eyes. “I thought that maybe it was time we moved on. We’re stuck together for all eternity, so we may as well change the scenery every once in a while.” He didn’t mention that he’d heard Dipper mumbling in his sleep about wanting to leave this motel, or that he’d been sneaking out every night since to make preparations for them in the next state over. 

“Bill?” Dipper breathed.

The demon raised an eyebrow, “Pine Tree." 

“Um…” the uncertainty in Dipper’s tone drew Bill in, and before he knew he really wanted to he was rolling on to his side and meeting Dipper’s stare. “How long have we been here?” Dipper asked.

“About a month. Why?”

Dipper shrugged. “Just wondering.”

Bill chuckled, “Okay. Now go to sleep. I don’t want you complaining about being tired tomorrow.”

Dipper laughed. “That sounds more like you than me, but okay.” He rolled over, showing his back to Bill, and the demon finally let the ghost of a smile cross his face. “I must be going crazy,” Dipper breathed.

“Why’d you say that?”

Dipper coughed a laugh. His voice was soft when he said, “For a second there, I actually thought you were being nice.”

“Now that is crazy,” Bill said. He waited for a response, but none came. He breathed Dipper’s name, and when the boy didn’t respond Bill assumed he was sleeping. He shook his head – there was no use getting worked up over the sleep-hazed ramblings of a- how old was Dipper again? Frowning, Bill rolled out of his bed and crossed the small space separating their beds. “Stupid meatsack,” he breathed, and if there was even a hint of affection in his voice he would never admit to it. Shaking his head, Bill drew Dipper’s quilt up over the boy’s shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't actually have anything for notes today but i feel weird leaving the little box empty so please enjoy this rendition of my favourite dong ---- "do da dee da dee da doe doe, dee da dee dee doe!"


	8. Chapter 8

Serious mental evaluations were in order.

Bill glanced at Dipper from the corner of his eye, the firm set of a frown at his lips. The brunet had had a hazy happy look on his face since they’d left the motel, and that twinkle in his eyes only got brighter as they neared their destination. 

The train ground to a halt, the doors sliding open, and Bill stood, grabbing Dipper by the neck of his jacket and yanking him to his feet. A few others shuffled off the train with them, and Bill drew his shoulders together to avoid the humans that kept rubbing themselves against him.

“Is this the last stop?” Dipper asked, squinting as they stepped out of the train station and into the sunlight. His hands massaged his lower back, “All that sitting down is not kind to the butt.”

Bill snorted. “We’ve got to get on one of those,” he said, pointing to a row of buses across the street. Dipper groaned, and Bill rolled his eyes. “Quit complaining. So, you have to sit on a lumpy bus chair, big whoop. I have to sit on a lumpy bus chair _with you_. For three hours!”

Dipper’s jaw dropped. “Three hours?”

Bill snickered, biting his bottom lip as a grin stretched across his face. “Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that,” he laughed, ducking away from Dipper’s hand when it swung for his arm. Dipper’s eyes screamed bloody murder, and Bill raised his hands in surrender. “Pine Tree, relax. I’m kidding. Twenty minutes, tops.”

Dipper breathed a sigh of relief, settling back down with ease. “So,” he asked, making every effort to come off as nonchalant, “now will you tell me where we’re going?”

Bill shrugged, stepping up into the bus and flashing his ticket to the driver. He stomped hastily up the aisle and threw himself into the furthest seat from the door that he could find, not that that was much of a task - he and Dipper were the only people aboard.

Dipper raised an eyebrow as he plopped down in the seat beside Bill’s, and the demon remembered he still had a question to answer. “Just a little town,” he said. “Barely anyone lives there – most people don’t even know it exists. But there’s a pretty big supernatural population so I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to blend in.” He leaned back in his chair, throwing his legs over Dipper’s as he relaxed against the bus’ window.

Dipper frowned in annoyance, jerking his legs to the side and smirking when Bill’s feet hit the floor with a resounding thud. Bill drew his lip back and snarled, but the sound was swallowed by a hiss as the bus doors closed and the vehicle lurched forwards.

“So, what’s this town called?” Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow at Bill. The demon had shut his eyes, arms folded over his chest. He wasn’t asleep – his toes tapped along to the beat of the song coming through the bus’ stereo.

The demon shrugged, “I dunno. Air Resistance Rises or something like that.”

Dipper frowned, a name popping up in his head, just for a second. “Gravity Falls?”

At this, Bill’s eyes shot open, zeroing in on the boy with a fire behind them that Dipper didn’t understand at all. However, Bill’s voice was calm – almost apathetic – when he asked, “You ever been there?”

Dipper shook his head. “No, I- I don’t know how I knew that. Maybe I passed through before I…” he shrugged, “y’know.” _Died_. He didn’t like to say it. Bill suspected that the angel was just holding on to hopes that this was all some twisted dream and that any second now he would jerk awake and forget about this whole thing.

The bus jostled as it stopped suddenly, and Dipper was thrown to the side. Bill caught him by the sleeve of his shirt as he overbalanced and spilled out into the aisle. The demon yanked Dipper back to his seat and the angel shot him a grateful smile.

Bill rolled his eyes, his slit pupils landing on two girls as they clambered on to the bus. They giggled at each other, stomping up the steps in heels that looked like some kind of ancient torture device. Bill noticed that the redhead’s shoe was tangled in her skirt, and he bit back a smirk as he waited for her to trip and face plant the floor. But she never did, because as she fell forwards, Dipper’s hand shot out and caught her.

Bill scowled, glancing at the empty space at his side where Dipper had _just been_ before looking back to the front of the bus. His eyes narrowed on the girl, whose cheeks had turned a fairly interesting colour as she straightened up, looking Dipper up and down with piercing blue eyes. “Thanks,” she said, smiling at Dipper. She still hadn’t let go of his hand…

“It’s no problem,” Dipper said, shaking his head. Bill didn’t need to see his face to know that he was smiling, and he ground his fingernails into his palm as he raised his eyebrows expectantly, as if he could force Dipper’s attention back on to himself by willpower alone. Dipper laughed at something the girl had said, taking a half step back. 

Bill didn’t need to be clairvoyant to know what would happen next – their joined hands forgotten, Dipper ended up pulling her forwards with him. With a startled yelp she fell forwards, and crashed into Dipper’s chest. Bill snorted, amused for just a second before he realised that _Dipper was touching her waist_ and _she was touching his chest_ and _he was going to kill something **so hard**... _

“Sorry,” Dipper breathed, his neck turning blotchy and red. He snatched his hands back to his sides as if her skin had burned. He stepped back again, and this time she stayed where she was, her hands sliding off his shoulders as a look much like disappointment crossed her face.

“It’s fine,” the girl said, waving him off with another laugh. “I think that one was on me, anyway. My name’s Becca, by the way.”

Dipper smiled. “I’m Dop- I mean, I’m _Dipper_. My name is Dipper. Not Dopper. Dopper is not something that I am called. Unless you _want_ to call me Dopper, in which case-” Dipper paused, noticing the raised eyebrow _she_ was giving him, and made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “I’m going to shut up now.”

“I think that would be best,” the girl standing behind the redhead said.

Bill couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of him at that, and if anything it only grew louder when Dipper turned to glare at him. “And that’s Bill,” the angel said. “My friend’s brother.” Bill’s jaw snapped shut then, amusement forgotten, and Dipper had only a second to make a smug face in Bill’s direction before the door of the bus slammed shut and the driver yelled at them all to sit down.

Dipper said something that Bill couldn’t hear, and quickly made his way back to Bill’s side. He left the girls at the front of the bus, but by the way he was biting his lip, Bill guessed he was hoping they would follow. Bill imagined that the look in his eyes when he made eye contact with _her_ was pretty interesting, because she swiftly paled and sat down towards the front of the bus.

When Dipper settled in his seat, Bill turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “You okay there, Dopper?” Honestly, he didn’t know what he’d been worried about before – Dipper and Will? He internally rolled his eyes; Dipper couldn’t handle that if he’d wanted to.

Dipper glared from the corner of his eye. “I will destroy you.”

Bill laughed, tossing an arm around Dipper’s shoulders. “Sure ya’ will, kid.” Dipper shrugged Bill’s arm off and was just about to move to another row of seats when Bill’s eyes flicked to something just over the angel’s shoulder. “This is our stop,” Bill said.

They squeezed their way out of the bus, Bill silently cursing the narrow aisles as he had to twist in all sorts of directions to avoid hitting anything unsavoury that would mark his clothes. Dipper smiled at Becca when he passed her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. _Weird…_

Dipper jumped the last few steps off the bus, smiling when fresh air hit his skin. There was moisture in the air, not quite rain but almost, and it was cool when it hit his hot skin. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of air that smelled like countryside – a damp, earthy smell that somehow only resonated within Dipper’s mind as _home_.

Dipper opened his eyes a crack to find Bill watching him, a bemused expression on his face. Dipper raised his eyebrows, “What?”

Bill shook his head, his teeth digging into his lip to hide the barest hint of a smile. “Nothing,” he said. Dipper was about to press on, but Bill’s attention was caught by something to their left. “Come on,” he said. 

Bill took off, walking faster than Dipper expected, and the brunette had to do a little jog to catch up. Dipper wanted to ask where they were going, but suspected he would get only an amused look from Bill and a sarcastic comment in return. It would become clear where they were going _eventually_ , anyway. 

Eventually came ten minutes later, after Bill had led them into the forest and Dipper had started to wonder if this had all been an elaborate plot to do away with him. Dipper had to remind himself that he was already dead, and Bill knew that killing him would get him nothing but five minutes of Dipperless life and a bollocking from his brother.

They traipsed around under the canopy of trees for less than two minutes before they broke out into a clearing, the brightness of the open space after ages in the darkness of the woods causing Dipper’s eyes to pinch shut. He opened then again when a throat was cleared at his side, and Bill raised an amused eyebrow at him.

“What do you think?” Bill asked, inclining his head to the centre of the clearing.

Dipper looked in that direction, eyes falling on a tiny cobbled house, with stained windows and a heavy wooden door. “It looks like a church,” Dipper said.

Bill laughed. “That’s because it was. Nothing’s more ironic than a demon living in a chapel, don't cha think?” He slung an arm around Dipper’s neck. “Come on. First person over the threshold gets the big bedroom!” Dipper bolted forwards immediately, a lifetime of sibling squabbling (not that he remembered it) urging him on. Almost as quickly, Bill’s hand darted out and caught Dipper by the back of his shirt. With a harsh yank, Bill dragged Dipper to the ground, stepping over him with a ‘ha ha’ before he broke through the chapel door.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just got back from london!!!!! i wrote a load of stuff on the journey so expect a few new chapters in the next few days <3

“Don’t leave the house,” Dipper muttered, mocking the dream demon's voice. The angel wriggled through the open window as silently as he could manage, taking care not to make a sound when the sharp angles of wood dug in to his skin. Ten hours ago Bill had told him that he was not to go anywhere without Bill's express permission, but Dipper would be damned if he was going to spend eternity doing everything Bill Cipher commanded.

With a dull thud, Dipper fell the few feet from his bedroom window and landed on the ground. He lay there for a second, sprawled on the grassy floor, before he bolted to his feet and took off across the clearing. This town was new, and there was no way in hell he was going to stay inside when he could be exploring.

His run to the town took no time at all, and he wondered if he and Bill and taken a longer route to the chapel when they’d arrived a few hours earlier. It was either that or Bill had led him round in circles in the forest in the hopes of confusing him – he wouldn’t put it past the demon. Dipper slowed when he reached what he assumed was the town centre, forcing his breaths to come slowly as he stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets.

There were a few other people on the streets, all flocking towards one building, from which brightly coloured lights and loud music poured. The waiting line to the club wound around the building twice, and Dipper wondered if people travelled very far to get there, because there was no realistic way for there to be that many teenagers in this town.

Dipper walked past the club without a second glance. His time with Bill had told him that while he enjoyed the atmosphere of the late night parties, he stuck out from the crowd like a sore thumb, and with just a glance at the outfits the people in line were wearing, it would be no different here.

As he walked further from the club, the resounding echo of the music all but disappeared, leaving Dipper to enjoy the silence of the sleepy town. Cicadas and owls sang their usual tune, and in the distance Dipper could hear the roar of a waterfall. His footsteps echoed as he wandered down the street, and he breathed a heavy sigh as, for the first time in what Bill had confirmed had been weeks, he was completely alone and, for a moment, completely free.

Of course, this was the boy who had died at the tender age of twenty-something, lost all of his memories and been tethered to a demon who would probably kill him if he let his guard down. It was safe to say that things never worked out quite the way he wanted them to. So when two dark figures stepped out from the shadows and began to follow him, he didn’t even know why he was surprised.

Dipper shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, ducking his head lower as he quickened his pace, heading down the street with a stomach turned to lead. He tried to put as much distance between he and his pursuers as possible, but he could feel them growing closer with each thrum of his heart.

“Hey!” One of the figures called out, and Dipper swallowed a sound of fear as he kept walking, faster than before. “Hey, _you_!” The voice came again, and this time it sounded mad. “It’s rude to ignore someone when they’re talking to you!”

Dipper grit his teeth and kept walking.

“Hey, why don’ you come ova’ here and talk to us? We got booze!” This was said by a different voice, and Dipper hunched his shoulders as he turned the corner, planning to break into a full sprint once he was out of their sight. However, as soon as he reached the end of the street, he barrelled into a large chest.

“Well, well, well,” he breathed, catching Dipper around the waist with an impossibly strong arm. “What have we here?” 

“Hey, that’s ours!” The two men approaching from behind Dipper called. “Give ‘im back!”

The arm around Dipper tightened, but before he could say anything, another voice cut through the silence. “Actually, I think you’ll find he belongs to me.”

The vice like grip around Dipper’s waist grew slack, just for a second, and Dipper seized the opportunity to spin out of the man’s grasp. He stumbled to the side, where he fell into the waiting arms of Bill Cipher.

Just one glance at Bill told Dipper that he was in a lot of trouble, but before he could utter an apology, Bill was stepping past him and towards the three men. “Well, gentlemen. It seems to be your lucky night.”

“Oh, yeah?” The first man who had spoken asked. He was tall and thin, with greasy brown hair and a scraggly beard that reached half way to his belt. His companion was as much of a mess, short and dumpy with a shiny bald head and a thin scar crossing his cheek.

“Indeed,” Bill agreed. “You see, on a bad night I would have turned each and every one of you inside out for so much as _looking_ at that boy over there. But, because I’m in such a good mood, I’m going to let you _choose_ how you die.”

The largest man, who was at least half a head taller than Bill, with thick muscles showing through his tight white t-shirt, scoffed. “Do you really think you’re in any position to be threatening _me_ , little man?” He stepped closer to Bill, his thick arms crossed over his chest, and he scowled down at the demon with an air of superiority that Dipper could feel like a thorn against his skin.

“I’d watch your tone if I were you,” Bill said, eyeing the man as if he were as much a threat as a bumble bee. “You wouldn’t want to make me angry, would you?”

The man laughed. “A pipsqueak like you? I’m hardly out of my depth.”

Bill raised an eyebrow, and Dipper resisted the urge to grab the demon and drag him away. Even the worst of people didn’t deserve what Bill Cipher could unleash on them. “Care to prove that?” Bill asked. 

The first punch was directed at Bill’s head, and with a giggle, Bill ducked under it. The man growled, and aimed another hit at the demon’s stomach. Bill raised his hand to punch back, and as the man’s fist collided with Bill’s, there was the sickening sound of shattering bone.

The man howled, falling to his knees with his gigantic fist clutched to his chest. Bill shook out his wrist, hissing lightly through his teeth. The other two men were frozen, staring at Bill with expressions that alternated between shock and fear. Bill turned to look at them, then, and they couldn’t scramble backwards fast enough.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Bill breathed, and in a flash he was standing in front of them, one hand fisted in each of their shirts. Bill tugged on the fabric, and the men’s heads crashed together with a sound like splintering wood that had Dipper's hand clamping against his mouth to hold back a scream. Their bodies fell to the floor, their blood spilling out on the pavement, and Bill curled his lip in disgust as he stepped over the puddle. Bill was barely past the two bodies when they were set alight with cerulean flame.

The demon’s attention was on the third man then, and he walked towards him with dangerous precision.

Bill didn’t bother to hit him again. The man was still curled in on his broken fist, and Bill only slid his hand through the man’s hair, pulling on it to force eye contact between them. “Tell whoever sent you that they do not touch what is mine, understand?” The man nodded, and Bill released his hair, allowing him to crumple back to the ground in a broken heap. As his head hit the cobbled floor, the same blue flame spread over his body, reducing him to dust in a matter of seconds.

Dipper had backed himself against a wall, and he watched the demon with wide eyes as Bill walked towards him. Frowning, Bill said nothing as he wrapped an arm around Dipper’s waist and pulled him against his chest. Dipper blinked, confused for only a second before he saw the street fall away from them, leaving them in an empty black space before bits and pieces of the world came back around them. 

They stood in their living room, and Bill spared only a second after their feet touched down on the carpet before he shoved Dipper back against yet another wall.

“What the hell were you thinking?” THe demon growled. He didn’t wait for Dipper to reply. “I gave you one rule, kid. _One!_ You were not to leave the house for _this precise reason_. What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t shown up, huh?”

Dipper glanced down, not sure how to reply, but he didn’t have to. Bill continued, “They were demons, Pine Tree! Do you know what they would have done if they’d found out you were an _angel_?” He spat the word like it burned his tongue. “No! You don’t! And you don’t want to know, because if you did, it would haunt your nightmares for the rest of your life!”

“I’m sorry,” Dipper mumbled. 

Bill scowled. “Sorry’s not gonna cut it, kid.” Dipper had just enough time to make a startled sound before Bill had him by the throat. The demon shoved Dipper backwards, through the wall and into a room Dipper hadn’t been told was there. The walls were dark, cut of rough stone that cried murky water down its seams. Lit only by pale blue flames, set inside tiny alcoves in the wall, there was a row of wrought iron doors. Bill kept pushing Dipper backwards, until he was past one of those doors, inside a room with nothing but a few piles of straw scattered across the ground. There, Bill released him, and stepped away from the angel, slamming the door.

“I’ll come back when you learn to listen to me,” the demon snarled, and with that, he disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in case any of you guys had forgotten about me, here's a quick chapter 10!

There was a sound outside the cell door. Dipper guessed it was Bill – who else was it going to be? The events of that night had played through Dipper’s mind a thousand times, and he was still shocked by the cruelty Bill had displayed. It was stupid, really. Dipper had managed to convince himself that there was some good in Bill, what with bringing him somewhere new and, for the most part, being relatively kind. Somewhere amongst all of that, he’d forgotten what Bill really was – a demon.

Bill had visited Dipper every day for the week he’d been in there. Every day Bill would step into the cell, and he would tell Dipper that he could leave if he just followed his orders. Dipper’s reply was always to stare blankly at the ground, avoiding Bill’s gaze even when he had nowhere else to look. It was his way of stating that that was never going to happen. Bill would then either sigh or roll his eyes, leave a plate of food on the ground and go away. Dipper was thankful that, as a dead person, he didn’t need to eat, because there was no way in hell that he was going to take what Bill gave him.

Dipper looked up to the barred window that showed him just under a square foot of the space outside the cell. Bill stood outside, one eyebrow raised as he looked at Dipper. When the angel said nothing, Bill frowned and opened the door. He stepped into the room, hands on his hips. “Dipper, what on earth are you doing?”

Dipper blinked, “ _Will?_ ”

Will’s other eyebrow shot up. “Do I look like my brother to you?” Dipper was silent for a long moment, and eventually Will cracked a smile. “Joke." 

“Oh.” Dipper shifted his weight, bringing his knees to his chin and wrapping his arms around his shins. “What are you doing in here?”

“It’s Thursday. I come to see you on Thursday’s, remember?”

Dipper’s lip twitched, “Too soon, man.”

Will was silent for a long moment before he smiled, understanding what Dipper meant. He moved to sit beside Dipper on the ground. “Still no luck with regaining your memories?”

Dipper shook his head.

Will frowned. “Is that why you’re sitting in a-” he paused, looking around. “What is this, anyway? Dungeon?”

Dipper shrugged. “Bill put me in here a few days ago because I went into town after he told me not to.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “You know you’re not supposed to let him do that, right?”

Dipper sighed helplessly. “What else was I supposed to do? If I left, he’d just shove me back in.”

“So shove back.” Will put a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “Dipper, listen. You may not believe it, but you are just as strong as Bill is, both physically and spiritually. If he’s making you unhappy, you make him stop.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Dipper said. He bit his lip, hanging his head as he listened to Will’s steady breaths. Bill didn’t breathe, stating that it was a waste of muscle memory, and Dipper had forgotten how comforting the sound was. Just to hear someone next to you, the steady rhythm of their life mingling with your own.

“Come on,” Will said, after an eternity of silence. “Let’s have some tea. You’ll feel better.” He extended a hand, which Dipper happily took, allowing Will to haul him from the ground and lead him through the cell door.

Back in the comfortable section of the house, everything was an affront to Dipper’s senses. The daylight scorched his eyes, the smell of coffee and cooking and cologne made his nose burn, and every little sound felt like it was being ploughed into his ears by headphones stuck on full.

“Sit here,” Will said, his soft voice cutting through the cacophony of clicking radiators and dripping taps and creaking floorboards. It was the only sound Dipper wanted to focus on. The angel pushed Dipper into an armchair, his hands lingering on Dipper’s shoulders for just a moment before he was off again, heading to the kitchen and flicking the kettle’s switch. 

As the water boiled, Will moved to the doorway joining the living room and the kitchen. “Dipper,” he breathed, and the younger angel glanced up. “How do you like your tea?”

Dipper smiled. “I’ll make it,” he said. He stood up, despite his bottom’s pleas to remain in what had to be the most comfortable chair in the universe. Ignoring the way his muscles screamed at him to stop moving – he really hadn’t noticed how badly sitting on the floor for days was affecting him – he brushed past Will and headed to the space on the counter where the kettle was set.

Will moved to stand behind him, watching as Dipper dumped a ton of sugar into his cup along with a tiny splash of milk. As Dipper poured the boiling water over a triangular tea bag, he was hyper-aware of the angel standing behind him. He knew that if he leaned to the side, they’d be touching, and that if he tilted his head just so, he’d feel Will’s breath along the back of his neck. Drink finished, Dipper scooped his mug from the tabletop and turned around.

He almost dropped it when he saw Bill standing in the doorway.

“Have a good walk, brother?” Will asked. He hadn’t turned around, and Dipper wondered if he’d _heard_ Bill come in. A ghost of a smile graced Will’s lips, and Dipper bit back a laugh when he realised that Will knew exactly how much he annoyed his demonic twin.

“I did,” Bill answered, voice laced with shards of ice. “I was actually having rather a pleasant day, until you showed up.”

“Why?” Will bit back. “Because I let your prisoner out of his cage?”

Bill ground his teeth together. “That’s none of your concern,” he said. “What Pine Tree and I do is none of your business." 

That was enough to get Will to turn around. He remained in front of Dipper, partially shielding him from Bill’s sight, and Dipper felt like nothing could hurt him for as long as Will was there. “Actually, brother, it is. You see, when a demon such as yourself attacks an angel, he attacks every angel. And angels fight together.” Will reached behind his back and caught Dipper’s hand in one of his own.

Bill rolled his eyes. “ _Please_. You only care because that angel is mine, and you don’t like it when I have nicer things that you do.”

Bill expected Will to say something in retaliation, and it was more than a surprise when it was Dipper who spoke out. “Actually, Bill,” Dipper said through grinding teeth, “I don’t belong to anyone, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be you.” 

Will snorted a laugh, just loud enough for Dipper to hear. Wrinkling his nose, Dipper laced his fingers with Will’s and gave the angel’s hand a squeeze. “Come on.” Dipper led the angel out of the kitchen, and while his back was turned, Will aimed a smirk at his brother. 

Dipper and Will disappeared into the younger angel’s room, and Bill released a growl of frustration, grabbing a blue mug from the table top and throwing it to the ground. The pottery shattered, and a battalion of shards flew up, embedding themselves in the demon’s face and neck.

Snarling and with no one but himself to blame, Bill stormed away, fingernails plucking smashed clay out of his cheek as he muttered profanities meant for his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> those of you who read any of my other things will know that i have my first exam on wednesday, and they're not gonna stop coming until early june, so i'm gonna have to put down my pen for a little while 
> 
> see you on the other side of high school, guys!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had a bit of free time so i thought i'd update <3 :D

Bill was lounging on his bed, book hovering a few inches over his face when the knock came at the door. He knew who it was, because who else would it be? He didn’t even need to think about whether he was going to open the door. “I’m busy,” he yelled, loud enough for the angel to hear him through the – unfortunately – flameproof door. He thought about the look on Dipper’s face the last time he had set a door alight to get him to leave – priceless.

“Doing what?” Came Dipper’s sharp reply.

“Putting out a doormat that says ‘Go away’.”

Dipper snorted a laugh, before pushing the door open and stepping inside. Bill squeaked, grabbing a corner of his blanket and clutching it to his chest. “Pine Tree!” He scolded. He shot a pointed glance down at his body. “I could have been naked!” 

“Bill, I have seen you walk around in nothing but a top hat and a bow tie.” He waved a hand at Bill’s chest, which was still mostly uncovered. “I think it’s a little late for that.”

Huffing, Bill let go of the sheet. He grabbed his book out of the air and tossed it to the floor. He stared at Dipper as he sat up, crossing his legs in front of him. “Why are you here?” 

Dipper stepped further into the room, hesitating for a second before he sat down on the edge of Bill’s bed. “I talked to Will,” he said.

“Yes, I did notice,” Bill answered. He still had scabs where the cup had cut him. “Is he gone yet?”

Dipper nodded. “He is, but that’s not what I wanted to-”

“What were you doing in your room?” Bill interrupted. He leaned forwards, elbows perched on his knees as he sniffed Dipper, searching for traces of scents he would he kill his brother if he found.

“Talking,” Dipper said, leaning away from the demon with a raised eyebrow.

Bill snorted. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Dipper sighed. “And that is what I am here to discuss.”

Bill wrinkled his nose. “No offence Pine Tree, but I really don’t want to talk about you and my brother’s sex life.”

“Okay, that’s the first thing on the list. You have to stop this crazy obsession with, what? Owning me?” Bill met Dipper’s stare incredulously, and Dipper huffed. He said, “First Will, then those girls on the bus – and don’t even try to deny it because I _know_ that was you.” He leaned forwards, and for a moment Bill thought he might reach out and touch him. He ignored the sinking sensation in his chest when Dipper drew his hands back to his sides. “You have to stop.”

Bill frowned. “I’m sorry, but you’ve lost me. I thought we weren’t allowed rules.”

Dipper nodded slowly, straightening his spine. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll follow your rules,” he said, and a slow grin spread across Bill’s face. “But,” Dipper continued, “you have to follow mine, too.”

The demon raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening. You want me to stop saying that I own you, that’s fine. Anything else?”

Dipper nodded. He reached behind his back, and pulled out a small glass jar. “This is the other.”

Bill nodded slowly. “Look, kid. I hate to break it to you, but that rule is really easy to break. I mean, it’s made out of glass.”

Dipper rolled his eyes, “Not the jar, dumbutt. What’s _inside_ the jar.”

“That jar is empty.”

Dipper snorted, “I doubt it’ll be this way for long. This is the sin tin.”

Bill blinked. “But it’s not a tin.”

Dipper continued, as if Bill had said nothing. “Every time you do something bad, such as kill a bunch of demons or scare cute girls or lock angels in dungeons, you will put a piece of paper in the jar. Every piece of paper is worth one favour, which I can cash in at any time.”

Bill frowned. “What kind of things would you consider bad. What’s the limit here? Can I put me feet up on tables? Can I make fun of stupid people? Can I make babies cry?”

“I’m going to ignore all of that,” Dipper said. “And I guess I’ll decide if what you’re doing is bad _as_ you’re doing it.”

Slowly, Bill nodded. “That sounds doable. All I gotta do is make sure you’re not looking.” Bill frowned, “Actually, that might be difficult. I mean, why would you ever take your eyes off of all this?” Bill waved a hand over his body.

“Why indeed,” Dipper deadpanned.

Bill smirked at Dipper. “There’s no point being sarcastic,” he said. “You can’t hide it – I know you want me.”

“The only thing I want,” Dipper said, not breaking eye contact with the demon. “Is for you to put a shirt on. We’re going out.” 

Bill perked up. “Where?”

Dipper moved away from Bill’s bed, leaving the Sin Tin on the edge. “To a club I saw in the town,” Dipper said. He didn’t know why he wanted to go there so badly, but when he was locked up, his thoughts had strayed to the place every hour, like clockwork. “I can’t go alone, and you can’t go dressed like that.”

Bill glanced down at himself – at his bare torso and yellow boxers, the black lines of his demonic markings standing out against his skin. “You’re right,” he said. “If I turn up looking like this, no one will be able to keep their hands off me.”

Dipper shook his head. Seeing no point in disagreeing, he turned his back on the demon and walked out the door. “You’ve got five minutes,” Dipper called over his shoulder. He kicked Bill’s door shut behind him.

 

.

 

Will had told him to go out with Bill. ‘Go somewhere he likes and observe. You may learn something.’ Dipper wasn’t entirely sure what he was expected to learn, but if Will thought it was a good idea, it was probably worth a try.

Right? 

The club was exactly as Dipper had expected. It was littered with people with strangely coloured hair who didn’t seem to understand the difference between dancing and vertical sex. Strobe lights flashed from every direction, turning the people Dipper ducked and dived to dodge into a rainbow of grinding and heaven-knows what else.

Bill walked just behind Dipper, leading the angel through the crowd with his hand on Dipper’s back. He’d dipped his fingers under the hem of Dipper’s shirt quite a while ago, and Dipper had done nothing to remove him. He was trying to do as Will had said – let Bill be himself and see what happens.

Bill steered Dipper passed a couple of teens openly making out in the centre of the floor, their hands sliding over each other as they licked into each other’s mouths. Dipper curled his lip, remembering his own awkward teenage make-outs.

The angel’s file had listed him for a great many things, and Bill wished he’d stuck around Dipper and his sister long enough to see some of them. Bill could admit that some of the things Dipper and Mabel had done had been pretty wild – and that was saying something, because Bill’s standards were fairly extreme themselves.

There was a tap on Dipper’s back, and he craned his neck to look up at Bill. The lights of the club washed his pale skin red and green and blue and, Dipper realised with a rush of nostalgia, yellow. Bill pointed towards the bar, where a middle-aged man with five blue spikes for hair served drinks to the colourful teens. Dipper nodded, and allowed Bill to steer him towards the bar.

They stepped up to the bar just as a couple moved away, and Dipper slid into a seat gratefully. He rested his arms against the counter, and winced when his skin was met with something warm and sticky. The dark jeans he’d stuffed himself into had cut off the circulation to his legs, but in this new position he could feel the blood flowing back to his aching limbs. After releasing a sigh, Dipper became aware that Bill was talking. He blinked up at Bill. “What?”

Bill leaned close to Dipper’s ear, his breath ghosting down Dipper’s neck as he said, “What do you want?”

Dipper gulped. He didn’t want to order the wrong thing – to ask for something Bill deemed unacceptable and be ridiculed for it. Turning his head and meeting Bill’s eyes, he said, “Surprise me.” It was the wrong thing to say, if the way the demon’s lips curled up into a grin was anything to go by.

A moment later, two small glasses were slammed down on the table before them, the bartender holding a tall bottle over them and filling them until the alcohol overflowed, clear liquid running down the curved edge of the glasses. With a grin, Bill reached over the bar and slipped a hefty stack of notes into the bartender’s pocket. “Keep ‘em coming.”

 

.

 

Dipper’s file had listed him for a great many cardinal sins, and Bill was beginning to wish he had stayed around Dipper and his sister long enough to see some of them. He could admit that some of the things Dipper and Mabel had done had been pretty wild – and that was saying something, because Bill’s standards were fairly extreme themselves.

He thought of one of Dipper’s crimes against the Lord now, as he watched the angel throw back another drink. Dipper’s first few had been awkward, as if Dipper were afraid of the taste or of what he may do once the alcohol did its job. But now Dipper’s movements were loose, and the grin he flashed Bill after he swallowed had Bill wondering how in the hell Dipper had ever been let into heaven.

Dipper turned back towards the bar, but Bill caught his arm before he could order another drink. He pulled Dipper close, his hand sliding from Dipper’s arm to his waist. “Dance with me.”

Dipper shook his head. “I can’t.” He hiccupped, and Bill raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t know how,” Dipper said.

Slowly, a smile took over Bill’s face.

“I’ll show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i have a week off school before my exams start up again, and then it's only two weeks until all of my GCSEs are FINISHED FOREVER!!!!!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unedited as all hell, so please blame my needing to revise for tomorrow's exam for the awful quality.

Dipper was beginning to regret not letting Bill show him how to dance. When Dipper had refused, Bill’s face had taken on a strangely child-like pout, and he stormed off into the crowd. Dipper stayed at the bar, absently sipping at a fruity drink that tasted more like something you’d buy at a McDonalds than alcohol. He couldn’t see Bill – hadn’t seen him since he’d stormed off.

Dipper stayed at the bar waiting for Bill all night. When the music stopped and the lights came on, he shuffled out of the club along with everyone else, and made his way home.

The walk back to the house was a long one – he knew which paths to take to get there quickest, but he found himself wandering lazily around the dirt tracks leading through the woods. His feet seemed to know the way better than his head, and when he finally reached the clearing surrounding the house, it was from a path he was sure he’d never taken before.

He didn’t think too much of it.

He shuffled down the slight hill to the little house, paying closer attention to the bright swirls of stars above him than the ground at his feet. Dipper didn’t think he hadn’t been brought up in the city – it was a strange feeling, an instinct, really, that he belonged to the woods – but he still found himself amazed by the stars blinking at him from so many lightyears away.

He nudged the front door open with his hip – Bill had said there was no point in ever locking it, since they couldn’t die and neither of them actually owned anything worth stealing. Dipper shrugged his jacket off at the door and let it fall to the couch as he walked through the living room to his room. It was only when he was stood outside his bedroom door did he notice the noises coming from inside.

Sex noises.

Heat rose to Dipper’s cheeks, and he backed quickly away from the door. One of the voices – and there were several – belonged to Bill.

Someone on the other side of the door screamed, and Dipper took that as a cue to leave. He stormed back into the living room and threw himself on to the couch, pulling a cushion over his head to block out the sounds.

He was beginning to wish he had let Bill teach him how to pop his own eardrums.

. 

Bill heaved a sigh as the last of his guests rolled away from him. Their stamina was disappointing, to say the least – not even four of them could last long enough to satisfy him.

He had to admit, though, that most of his disappointment fell to himself. He had thought that if he closed his eyes and stuffed his head in a pillow that smelled so strongly of Dipper, his imagination would do the rest. But it was all wrong – the feel of the hands on his skin and the pitch of the voices as they cried out against him.

But Bill knew he had to get his fix somehow – his lust for Dipper was becoming a pain to control, and the mood swings that accompanied his frustration were already attracting attention from his brother.

A hand stroked at Bill’s chest, and he swatted it away with an irritated grunt.

.

 

Sleep found Dipper eventually, and he welcomed the swirling darkness with open arms. 

He fell away from the world, and floated down through the blackness until it started to fade away, replaced with a stark and unnatural whiteness that made the backs of his eyes burn. He fell faster as the light grew brighter, until there was nowhere left to fall, and he crashed to the floor with enough force to make his ears ring.

Pain rolled through his body and, rolling to his back, he groaned.

Beside him, someone cleared their throat. “Tea?”

Dipper opened one eye, and saw Will smiling down at him. He held two mugs in his hands, and when Dipper propped himself up on his elbows, Will handed one to him.

Will sat down in a armchair, one leg crossed neatly over the other, and he cradled his mug close to his chin. Dipper stared at him, and after a minute, Will sighed. He uncrossed his legs and sat forwards, his elbows resting on his knees. “Why are you here?” He asked.

Dipper blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way, Dipper. I love talking to you,” Will said. “What I meant to ask was ‘what has Bill done now?’”

Dipper grimaced. “You know about that?”

Will smiled, a gentle curve turning his lips up just-so. It looked a little strange at first – seeing Bill’s face forming such an un-bill-like expression. He took a sip of his tea. “When an angel is experiencing some difficulties with his demon,” Will said, “he gets brought here.”

“Oh,” was all Dipper could think to say. He drank some of his tea – it was too sweet, and he could taste something citrusy in it, like bergamot or a subtle lemon. “He hasn’t really done anything wrong – I didn’t explicitly tell him that he _couldn’t_ have sex in my bedroom.”

Will choked on his tea. “He did _what?_ ”

Dipper shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, really. Though I didn’t think he’d have something to put into the tin this early on in the agreement.”

Will was frowning against the rim of his mug. “I’m beginning to wonder,” he began, “if putting you and my brother together wasn’t the best idea after all.”

“I didn’t think it was a matter of choice,” Dipper replied. He took another sip of his tea, and it burned his throat. “I thought I had to stay with Bill because I was the only angel that matched his strength.”

“That’s only half true,” Will said. “There are other means of neutralising Bill’s power, I just consider them to be a last resort. I wanted to try all of the other options first.”

Dipper frowned. “So, what are the ‘other means’?” He asked, taking another drink. The way Will had said it made them sound awfully ominous.

“Death,” Will said.

It was Dipper’s turn to choke on his tea this time. Will was on his knees at Dipper’s side in an instant, his hand smacking Dipper’s back. Dipper gasped, and coughed when he felt his drink rush up to his nose.

Dipper’s coughs died down, and he looked up at Will with a mix of uncertainty and horror. “I won’t do it,” Will said, his hand rubbing soothing circles into Dipper’s back. “As I said, that would be a last resort. I would only do that if there were no other options.”

Taking a shaky breath, Dipper asked, “But right now there are other options?”

“Well, there’s you,” Will said. “If you can reform Bill, there would be no need for me to consider the termination of his soul.”

Dipper snorted. “Reform Bill?”

“I’ll admit, it does sound just a touch unrealistic,” Will said.

Dipper smiled. “Just a touch." Will's hand was still drawing circles against his back, and it sent little shivers down his spine.

Will looked away from him, and it was only then that Dipper noticed the change in the room around them. The white walls had darkened into the earthy brown of a dying leaf.

“I should go,” Will said. “You’ll be waking up soon.”

“Okay,” Dipper said. He set his mug down on the floor and pushed himself to his feet.

“Oh, and Dipper?”

Dipper looked back at Will. He looked strangely childlike, sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him, looking up at Dipper with wide blue eyes. “Yes?”

Will smiled. “Keep your eyes closed when you wake up.”

.

Dipper awoke to the sound of whispering and quiet giggling. He made a note to keep his eyes shut, silently thanking Will for telling him to do so.

The front door clicked shut, and everything was silent until a pair of lips was pressed against Dipper’s ear. “You can stop pretending to be asleep now.”

Dipper sat up, craning his neck to make eye contact with Bill. “I wasn’t pretending,” Dipper said. “I was trying not to see the aftermath of the debauchery that went on last night.”

Bill grinned. “You make sex sound so un-sexy,” he said. “I _love_ it.” He leaned away from Dipper and padded across the living room to sit in the armchair across from the angel. He leaned against the back, one leg slung haphazardly over the other and his fingers drumming against the ends of the armrests. He looked like Zeus, staring down at the earth with a lip curled in disgust. 

“So,” Bill said, tilting his head to the side and looking down at Dipper with half-lidded eyes, “what’s for breakfast.”

Dipper scoffed. “You’re joking, right?” Bill quirked an eyebrow, and Dipper breathed a humourless laugh, shaking his head. “Here,” he said, fishing a plastic rectangle out of his pocket and tossing it to Bill.

Bill caught it with one hand, and held it close to his face. “You want me to drink lighter fluid?” Bill asked. Dipper was silent, and Bill shrugged. “If that’s what your into-”

“No!”

Dipper lunged forwards before Bill could take a drink from the canister, wrestling it out of the demon’s grasp 

Bill pressed a hand to his chest. “Aw. You do care.”

Dipper scowled at him. He said, “I want you to go into my room and burn my bed sheets.” Bill made a face, and Dipper replied with a disgusted groan. “As well as anything else you and your friends managed to defile with your communal bodily fluids.”

“Can I have food then?” Bill asked.

“Of course,” Dipper said. “If you make it yourself.”

“What?” Bill stuck out his lower lip, “Why won’t you make it for me?”

“Because you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself,” Dipper said. He crossed his arms over his chest – he vaguely remembered a large, alarmingly hairy man scaring the crap out of him by doing that, once upon a time.

Bill huffed, and jumped away from the armchair. He stormed towards Dipper’s bedroom, and he was just about to call after him that he forgot the lighter when he caught sight of blue sparks jumping out of the room.

Reluctantly, Dipper got to his feet and made his way to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the bright side, my last exam is TOMORROW, PEOPLE!! How is that not the best news ever!!!! So aside from the Summer School I'm taking (haha yeah i'm a nerd) I get a whole 12 WEEKS OF SUMMER TO DO NOTHING BUT IMPROVE MY ABILITY TO WRITE GAY FANFICTION!!!!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to all my team will supporters - i'm sorry

_There was the sound of screeching tires, the smell of burning rubber, and a girl’s voice, screaming his name. Then everything went black._

_There was nothing but darkness and silence for a long time. And then, out of nowhere, the crying began._

_There was a pressure on Dipper’s chest, like someone was lying on him, and he couldn’t move. He couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t reach out to touch the crying girl, couldn’t open his mouth to ask her what was wrong._

_She shifted against him, and her muffled cries began to form words. Dipper though he heard his name, and “all my fault” and “I’m so sorry.”_

_He sensed the presence of another person, and the girl shifted again. Her sobs stopped, and someone asked her for her name. “Mabel Pines,” she said._

_Dipper’s head was bombarded with images._

_A girl dumping an entire bag of glitter on to a scrapbook page. The same girl dragging him into a hug and patting his back awkwardly. She laughed at him. She cried with him. She pushed him and she held him back. She shared his face. She shared his last name. Her name was Mabel. Mabel Pines._

_Mabel._

“Mabel!” 

Dipper bolted up in bed. Tears were streaming down his face, and his sheets were a tangled mess trapping his legs together in front of him. His breaths came in short, sharp bursts, and his heart pounded at his chest from the inside.

There was an urgent knock on the door, and before Dipper could even think of answering it Bill was shoving it open and flying across the room. “What happened?” He asked. He had thrown himself on to Dipper’s bed and taken his face between his hands before Dipper could so much as blink. “ _Are you okay?”_

Dipper frowned, confused. “I’m… fine?” Bill’s thumbs were tracing gentle circles under Dipper’s eyes, wiping away his tears. Dipper crossed his eyes to watch Bill’s painted nails skirt just above his cheekbones. “Are _you_ okay?” He asked. “You’re acting weird.”

Bill’s thumbs halted, and slowly, he took his hands away from Dipper’s face. “Sorry,” he said, shuffling back. 

“That’s okay.” Dipper pushed himself further up his bed, putting some more space between him and the demon. “I had a bad dream,” he said.

“Do you want me to take a look?” Bill asked. He lifted his hand, but hesitated before touching Dipper again. “I am a demon of dreams, after all.”

Dipper shook his head. “I’m fine, really. It was just a nightmare – it’s certainly not the first time I’ve had one of those.”

Bill nodded, and moved his hand back to his lap. “Do you want coffee?” He asked.

Dipper frowned. “Why are you being nice?”

Bill shrugged. “I can be mean if you want me to.” 

“You’re alright, thanks,” Dipper replied. The cold feeling his dream had left in his chest was dissipating fast, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever that had been, it wasn’t a nightmare. There was something about the girl’s face, her name, that seemed more like a memory than anything his mind had come up with out of nowhere.

“Bill?”

“Pine Tree.”

Dipper frowned. “If my memories come back,” he began, quietly, not quite sure of how he should word it. “How- what will it feel like?”

Bill inched closer. He glanced down at Dipper’s knee, looking like he wanted to reach out and touch it before thinking better of it. “Do you think they’re coming back?” He asked.

“I- no, it’s not that.” Dipper shook his head. “Just hypothetically, what would it be like?”

“I don’t know,” Bill said. “I could ask Will, but-”

“Ask me what?”

Dipper could practically see Bill’s frustration spike. 

“Nothing,” Bill growled, his nose crinkling like that of a snarling wolf. “What are you doing here?” 

Will leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “It’s Wednesday,” he said. “I assess Dipper’s progress on Wednesdays.” 

Bill heaved a sigh. “Fine,” he said. He pushed himself away from Dipper’s bed and stalked past Will. Dipper had never seen someone walk passive-aggressively before – it was oddly impressive.

Will pulled the door closed once Bill was through it, and turned a confused frown on Dipper. “Did I interrupt something?”

Dipper shook his head. “Nothing, really.” He rolled out of bed, then realised that he was standing in his bedroom in his underwear with a literal angel. He blushed. Glancing down at himself, Dipper mumbled a quick apology. 

Will’s blue eyes followed Dipper’s down, stopping on the waistband of Dipper’s underwear, where the elastic dug into a defined hipbone. “Not at all,” he said, his eyes heavily lidded and, if Dipper didn’t know any better, _hungry_. Will turned towards the door. “Get dressed,” he said, his tone flat and clipped. “We’ll go somewhere for breakfast.”

Something about the thought of an angel eating breakfast made Dipper laugh. Will didn’t turn around while Dipper chuckled quietly to himself, and Dipper felt for a moment that something was wrong. He hurried to get himself dressed, and when they walked past Bill to go out the front door, he looked up but didn’t ask where they were going. For a moment, Dipper saw a knowing light in Bill’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what he was missing out on, but it felt big.

. 

“Is something bothering you?” Will eventually asked. He had been sipping mutely at a latte for the past few hours, and Dipper had no idea how it had stayed hot for so long.

“No,” Dipper lied. Will raised an eyebrow, and Dipper couldn’t help but nod. “I had a dream,” he said, looking down at his own empty cup. Will said nothing, so he continued, “Only, I think it might have been a memory.”

When Dipper looked up, Will was staring at him with hard, unreadable eyes. He was silent for a second, then, “What happened?”

“There was a car crash,” Dipper said. “There was a girl there with me – Mabel Pines? I don’t know who she was, but that’s my surname too, isn’t it?”

Will nodded, but the action seemed hesitant. “It is.”

“Do you know who she was?” 

“I do,” Will said. “I could tell you about her, but I think it might be easier for me to show you.” He lifted his hand, so that his fingertips were less than an inch from Dipper’s temple. “May I?”

Dipper said nothing, but bowed his head forwards, so that Will’s fingers slid into his hair.

“This won’t hurt,” Will told him. “Just relax.”

Dipper nodded, and then he felt it. He didn’t know what it was – like magic, but lighter, and for some reason, gold. He felt strings of it wind around his head; he felt it dip through the holes in his skin and swim around his mind. 

He focused on his dream, because that seemed like the right thing to do. And when he thought of the girl – of Mabel – he saw all of those scenes from his dream replayed. Glitter and water fights and horrendous cooking and fighting monsters and matching Halloween costumes and Dipper knew, right then, that she was his sister. 

But then, the images started to fly away. Dipper chased them, reached out for them, but as his fingers touched them, they fizzled away. He tried to remember her face, but he couldn’t do it. Did she have brown hair, or red hair? He didn’t know. Her name he could still remember, until he couldn’t. Was it Mabel? Maria? Maryam? 

Will’s hand fell away from Dipper’s head, and he gasped. There was an ache in his head, and an emptiness, like someone had taken an ice-cream scoop to his head and torn half of his brain away.

“Dipper?” Will asked, softly. His hand was on top of Dipper’s, and Dipper wondered when that had happened. He didn’t mind, because he liked Will. Dipper thought that he was much better than Bill.

“Will,” Dipper sighed.

“Are you alright?” Will asked, and Dipper nodded. “I was asking you about last night,” Will told Dipper. Dipper wondered if his mind had wandered off; it did that sometimes, but only when he was with Will.

“What about last night?”

Will smiled softly. “I was asking if you had any dreams?”

Dipper thought long and hard about that – he thought that he’d had a dream, but now that he was thinking about it, he didn’t think he had. Dipper shook his head. “No dreams.”

Will nodded, and Dipper imagined that for a second, there was a cruel lilt to his smile. But when Dipper looked closely, he saw that it was the same sweet smile the angel always wore. “Good,” Will said. “That’s good.”

.

When Dipper and Will pushed through the front door of their tiny house in the woods, Bill glared daggers at Will. Dipper wanted to ask what his problem was, but Bill was turning away and storming down the hall before Dipper could so much as open his mouth.

"Ignore him," Will said, his breath ghosting over the back of Dipper's neck. Dipper felt a shiver that was not completely pleasant run down his spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry it's been so long you guys!!!!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys!!! it's been a while, but i am here, and i bring SEXY TIMEZ

A few days later saw Bill skulking back into the living room, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

Dipper was in the kitchen, drying his hands with the Halloween towel that Bill had insisted they buy, despite it being only early March. Dipper kept finding shattered pieces of pottery in the drain, and the number of mugs in the cupboard was beginning to dwindle. But Dipper figured he should look on the bright side – Bill wasn’t leaving the house very often, and that meant that no one was getting hurt by his hand.

Dipper still didn’t have a clue what he was supposed to be doing. He told Bill when he did something wrong, but he had no idea if the demon was actually listening to him. Most of the time, he had the sneaking suspicion that Bill was mocking him. And by sneaking suspicion, he meant he would say something, and then Bill would openly mock him for it.

Think of the Devil, Bill walked into the kitchen, his hair coiling as water from his shower dripped against his shoulder, spreading a stain through his shirt. And by ‘his shirt’ Dipper meant ‘my shirt’, because Bill was wearing Dipper’s shirt. Dipper was broader than Bill, and taller, so the shirt hung from one shoulder and draped down to his mid-thigh. Bill looked comfortable enough, and Dipper supposed that he would never be getting the shirt back.

“Hey,” Dipper said, when Bill stalked past him and flicked the switch for the kettle. He received only a grunt in response. “I was going to put a film on,” Dipper told him. “You can watch it with me if you like.”

Bill braced his hands against the counter but didn’t turn around. “What kind of film?”

“A scary one,” Dipper said. He threaded the towel back over the handle of the oven. “Maybe The Human Centipede, or Insid-”

“I’ll pass,” Bill said, cutting Dipper’s sentence short. “No offence, Pine Tree,” he continued, “but those films are practically documentaries to me. Like, been there, done that, some weird human made a film about it.”

Dipper snorted. “You’re telling me that you’re essentially Dr. Heiter?”

Bill laughed, but didn’t answer the question. He turned to Dipper, leaning his hip in the corner of the worktop. “We should watch something really scary,” he said. “Something demon children watch with pillows clutched to their chests during sleepovers, after their parents have gone to bed.”

“What kind of film is that?” Dipper asked. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Bill met Dipper’s eyes with a sadistic smile, and Dipper decided that no matter how much he definitely didn’t want to know, it was too late. Bill said, “Disney.”

 

 

 

When Dipper had agreed, because for some reason he felt like he genuinely enjoyed Disney, even though he had never actually seen it, Bill had grinned like a- well, like a demon, and practically _skipped_ into the living room. Bill put on a film called Frozen, and twenty minutes in, Dipper was unashamed to say that he was _loving it_.

“What do you mean you love it?” Bill squawked, when Dipper told him just that. “It’s horrifying!” 

“But Hans is so cute!”

Bill cackled ominously, and Dipper didn’t ask what that meant. Dipper had made popcorn, and the bowl was resting on his knee. Every few minutes Bill would reach over and grab some, and he spilled cornels all over the sofa as he went. After ten minutes of that, Dipper had sighed his resignation and shuffled to sit with his leg pressed against to Bill’s, the bowl balanced precariously over the crevice. 

Dipper thought, for a moment, that he felt the demon stiffen. But a quick glance at Bill dispelled the thought instantly – Bill didn’t even look like he’d noticed Dipper move.

He tried to watch the film, he really did. But it was barely half way through, and already he was beginning to drift off. His eyes would slip shut of their own accord, only snapping back open when his head lolled to the side. Eventually, thought, the struggle became too much, and when his head fell as a dead weight against Bill’s shoulder, his body didn’t bother to jerk him back awake.

_There were hands on his hips, soft lips against his own. Warmth enveloped him as sweet kisses lingered against his lips, a gentle tongue swept against his own, barely pushing as it slid wetly, in and out._

_Dipper’s eyes opened, just a fraction, and everything was blue. A pale face was in front of him, dark freckles dotting a dainty nose, blue hair falling to just above two darker blue eyebrows._

_Will._

_The hands on Dipper’s hips tightened, pulled him closer, and his eyes slipped shut again. He found himself pressing himself to Will’s chest, winding his arms around his neck and pulling him down. He deepened the kiss, pushed against Will in a way he didn’t know he could, and pushed harder when the angel moaned._

_And then the two hands at his sides became four, and a chill ran down his spine. He was jerked back, and Will followed him as the soft lips on his face were joined by a second pair, a harsher pair, biting at his throat from behind. He felt clawed fingers trail up his sides, rake down his back, slide across his stomach and tear his shirt to shreds. The second mouth sucked at his neck, murmuring words that, in another context, could be construed as mildly threatening._

_Bill._

_He spoke against Dipper’s skin, and bit him as Will kissed. As Bill’s rough hands tore at his skin, Will’s gentle touches tickled. As Bill’s tongue, hard and practiced lapped up the blood that had been spilled, Will’s barely made itself known. Will was pleasure, Bill was pain._

_But still, Dipper found himself leaning back._

_The warmth in front of him was gone, and Dipper was able to completely delve into the cold. Bill’s hands on his chest turned him around, and on the lips that crushed down on his own, he tasted blood. Dipper ran his hands over Bill’s shoulders, dragged his nails down Bill’s chest, delving lower when the demon growled into his mouth._

_Dipper slipped his fingers under Bill’s waistband, and heard him hiss. His hands tightened in Dipper’s hair as he pulled his face closer, drove his tongue in deeper, and-_

And then there was ice - cold, hard ice against the small of his back. Dipper shrieked, and threw himself away from the cold, launching himself over the back of the sofa with the most masculine of screams.

Bill didn’t even try to contain his laugh.

“What the hell was that?” Dipper gasped out, because Christ, that was cold.

Bill cackled. “My feet,” he said. “I was chilly.” 

“Chilly?” Dipper barked. “I’ve felt snow that was warmer than that.”

Bill shrugged. “I’m a demon,” he said, like that explained it all.

Dipper shuddered. He remembered, with a rush, the dream he had been having. A furtive glance down told him all he needed to know, and with a squeak, he scrambled to his feet and across the room.

“Oh, come on,” Bill called after him. “Don’t leave because of that. Elsa still hasn’t done the sassy song!”

Dipper continued down the hall anyway. He slipped into the bathroom and bolted the door behind him – not that it would do any good against Bill, if he really wanted to get in. But it made Dipper feel better. He went to the sink and splashed his face, and it was only when he straightened back up again that he noticed it.

A dark, purple hickey against his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternatively titled: in a really round-about way, bill cock-blocks himself


	15. Chapter 15

“You’re no fun,” Bill said. “Angels are never fun.”

“That’s a shame.”

“You’re a terrible person and I hate you.”

“This coming from the demon who has done nothing but torment me since the moment we met.”

Bill pouted, folding his arms over his chest. The paper in his hand crumpled slightly, and Dipper could just about make out the word-art at the top. It was a flier for a party being held in the town – fancy dress, even though it was nowhere near October.

Dipper took the poster out of Bill’s hand. “It’s a Halloween party,” he said, “in summer.” 

“ _Summerween_ ,” Bill said, like it was obvious. “This town celebrates it every year. It’s tradition.”

Dipper hummed. While he was less than ready to go back into town – least of all a nightclub – he couldn’t help his interest. He turned the paper over in his hands, reading the dates and times.

“If we go,” Dipper said, and Bill beamed. “ _If_ we go, you’re paying. And we’re leaving at the first sign of trouble. And you’re not allowed to ditch me again!”

Bill nodded, holding out his flaming hand. “Deal?”

“That is so not happening.”

Bill sighed, but the flames around his open palm died down. “Fine,” he said. “Gentleman’s agreement?”

Dipper took Bill’s hand, giving it a solid shake. “You’d better stick to it.”

“I always do.” He released Dipper’s hand with a grin. “This is gonna be great – you’re going to look _so_ _cute_ in the outfit I picked out for you.”

Dipper looked up from his hand with a frown, momentarily forgetting to worry about how empty his hand felt without Bill’s beside it. “You’ve already picked out our costumes?” He asked.

“Obviously.” Bill snatched the flier back from Dipper and tucked it away into the mindscape he was always banishing things to. “You’re gonna _love_ it.”

 

Dipper did, in fact, love it.

“Your sense of humour is seriously warped,” he said, as he stared at himself in the mirror.

His costume was a black suit, tailored to emphasise the narrow tilt of his hips. The gold-toed shoes Bill had given him reminded Dipper of something from his past – something that he couldn’t quite place, but that made a frightened shiver roll down his spine.

“It’s ironic,” Bill said. He stepped up behind Dipper, flicking one of the black horns perched atop his head. “I like it.” He swirled his finger around the tip of the horn, and Dipper had to look away, his cheeks burning. “You would have made a cute demon.”

“But then who would have kept an eye on you?” Dipper turned his head to side, meeting Bill’s eyes. Bill’s tongue darted out to wet his lips, eyes slipping down to Dipper’s mouth.

“I suppose my brother would have found someone,” he said. “Though, I doubt there are any other angels that would let me drag them out to a Summerween party.”

“Or let you dress up as one of them,” Dipper said quietly. He found his own eyes drawn to Bill’s lips, to the flash of fangs just behind.

Bill looked down at his own outfit – a white dress, ethereally delicate. Dipper hadn’t let Bill magic a halo around his head, so Bill had streaked his cheeks with some kind of makeup that made his skin shimmer in the light. 

Dipper had to admit – Bill made a good angel.

Swishing his skirt around his hips, Bill laughed. “Will would pitch a fit if he saw me like this,” he said.

At the mention of Will, Dipper found himself thinking about his dream. He remembered leaning away from Will, towards Bill. He remembered the hot mouth on his throat, the needy hands clawing at his hips.

“Well,” Dipper said, clearing his throat. “I guess it’s a good thing he isn’t here, then.”

Bill grinned, and Dipper watched as his dark eyes trailed over his face. His eyes met Dipper’s briefly, before shifting slightly to the right.

“Ears,” Bill said.

Dipper blinked. “What?”

“You don’t have your ears pierced,” Bill said. He touched Dipper’s cheek, tilting his head to the side. “That won’t do.”

Dipper didn’t want to tug his face away from Bill’s cool touch, but for the sake of his own dignity, he did. He said, “So, what? You’re going to pierce my ear?”

“I can’t,” Bill answered, looking far too upset at the fact. “I’m not allowed to hurt you, or else Will will unleash his _divine wrath_ , or whatever he’s calling it these days.”

Dipper let out a breath, relieved. “Ah, well, that’s-”

“But!” Bill cut him off, grinning. “You _can_ do it to yourself!” He flourished his wrist, and an earring appeared in the palm of his hand. The face was triangular, black – small but sophisticated.

Dipper eyed the earring with alarm. He said, “Bill, I am not putting that through any part of me.”

“Why? It’ll be fun.”

“Pain is not fun,” Dipper said. He took a step back away from the demon, and the weaponisable jewellery in his hand. “Pain is quite decidedly the opposite of fun.”

“Well, then you haven’t been feeling the right kind of pain,” Bill said. “Seriously, Pine Tree, live a little. If you don’t like it, you can take it out and let it heal over.”

Dipper eyed the demon warily. He wasn’t keen on the idea, but when Bill put it like that…

Quickly, before he could lose his nerve, Dipper took the pin out of Bill’s hand. “It’s not like it’s permanent,” he said, and before Bill had a second to comment, Dipper had positioned the pin against his ear and punched it through the flesh. 

He gasped when the earring broke through the other side of his earlobe and his hand jerked away, but the earring didn’t drop to the floor. He felt blood dripping from the hole – felt the entire left side of his face heating up with blood and pain.

Bill was beaming, smiling so wide that Dipper was half afraid his face would crack.

“What’s that look for?” The angel asked, as he swept his blood away from the bleeding wound with the tip of his finger.

Bill shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “I just can’t believe you actually did that.”

“Well,” Dipper shrugged, “I’m dead. And I’m not going to spend my afterlife avoiding all of the things I was too afraid to do when I was alive.” 

“Spoken like a true demon,” Bill said. He reached between them, then, and took Dipper’s hand. Dipper was half afraid that he was going to put Dipper’s finger in his mouth – lick off the blood that Dipper had swept from the wound in his ear.

He was half afraid of that, half excited by it.

“Come on,” Bill said, neglecting to put any part of Dipper into his mouth. Dipper tried not to feel disappointed as he was pulled out of his bedroom and into the hallway, where the magic began to swirl around them and take them to someplace new.

 

The party was in full swing when Bill and Dipper arrived. 

Everywhere he looked, Dipper saw mythical creatures. Vampires and werewolves and fairies danced together under the strobe lights – witches and zombies and dragons drank together at the bar. There was a mermaid sitting in the back, near a gorgon, and next to them was a guy in fluffy pants that looked even more uncomfortable than Dipper felt.

“Don’t look so tense,” Bill said, throwing an arm around Dipper’s shoulders. “It’s a party. Have some fun.”

Dipper shrugged out from under Bill’s arm, edging closer to the wall. “I think I’ll just stay here,” he said. “I’m not much fun at parties anyway. I’ll watch you.”

“Kinky,” Bill winked. When Dipper’s cheeks flamed, Bill laughed, and smacked him on the back. “Calm down, kid. I was joking. Here, have a drink.”

He lifted his hand, which had been empty a second ago, and handed Dipper a glass. It was half-full with a clear, foul-smelling liquid that made the inside of Dipper’s nose burn when he took a cautious sniff. Bill was watching him intently, though, so tentatively, Dipper took a sip. He frowned at the taste.

“This is disgusting,” he said.

“That’s how you know it's good.”

“That makes no sense,” Dipper told him, but found himself raising the cup to his lips and taking another sip anyway. “It’s not so bad the second time around.”

“Good.” Bill was grinning – that lazy grin that Dipper had found some weeks ago was his favourite. “I’m gonna go dance for a bit,” he said. “Feed off of all this sinful energy. You know how it goes.”

Dipper nodded. Eventually it had been explained to him that demons led humans to sin in order to feed off the dark energy. In the same way, angels lead humans towards righteousness so that they could feed off of that. It annoyed Dipper that it wasn’t about anything greater than food – no sense of morality or justice – but if that was the way of the world, who was he to complain?

Dipper watched Bill move across the dance floor, closing the distance between himself and the woman who had been ogling him since they’d arrived. Bill’s skirt swished around his legs as he walked, hips jerking violently from side to side, his bare feet gliding over the ground like he didn’t give a damn about anyone or anything.

That was the only unconvincing part of Bill’s costume, Dipper thought. Bill had the face of an angel, and the body of one, but his mind… there was nothing angelic about Bill Cipher’s mind. 

Bill turned his back to the woman, let her wrap her arms around his waist, but when he looked up, flicking his hair out of his face, his eyes locked on to Dipper’s. He shifted his hips against the woman’s thighs, tilting his head back against her neck. He laughed when she whispered something in his ear, bit his lip when she pressed her lips to his neck. But his eyes – Bill’s dark, demonic eyes – never left Dipper’s. Not for a second. 

When Dipper became aware of the unfortunate situation going on in his pants, it was already too late. Bill’s eyes were roving over him, drinking in every flustered inch of him. Dipper knew what Bill was – what he wanted – and he’d been warned against it so many times that he knew that he could never have it.

Will had told him so many times that, just as the angel’s job was to calm the demon, the demon’s job was to corrupt the angel.

For the first time since he’d started dancing – nearly five songs ago – Dipper looked away from Bill. He couldn’t afford to let himself stray – he couldn’t disappoint Will like that. He stared into the bottom of his cup, wondering why his death was looking to become even more complicated than his life.

Eventually, though, Dipper found that he wanted nothing more than to look up – to see what Bill was doing. _He could chance one look up, if it was quick, right?_ His eyes darted to where Bill had been dancing, and his eyes locked on to a blond head.

But Bill wasn’t dancing anymore.

He had the woman in his arms, his fingers tangled up in her hair as he kissed her. Her hands were on his waist, holding him against her as their mouths mashed together too frantically to be in time.

Dipper couldn’t drag his eyes away. Her red lipstick was on Bill’s cheeks, on his neck, on his lips. He had to keep reminding himself that Bill was a demon – that this was what he had to do to survive. But there was nothing necessary about the way that Bill was kissing this woman. He wasn’t treating her like a meal – he was treating her like something special, something to be adored.

Every move of his lips felt like a punch to Dipper’s gut.

Something in his throat squirmed. Everything around his was suddenly uncomfortable, and close – everything was way too close. He felt the walls closing in, felt the flashing lights pulsing against the cold sweat on his skin.

At the end of the song, Bill left his partner, walking towards Dipper with lipstick on his face and a number scribbled on his arm.

“She’ll be dreaming about me for weeks,” he said, as he licked his fingers to scrub the ink off his skin.

“That wasn’t very angelic of you,” Dipper said.

Bill quirked an eyebrow. “Jealous, Pine Tree?”

Dipper took another sip of his drink, which had magically refilled itself as soon as Dipper thought that he wanted another. “You wish,” he said. 

But his cheeks were burning and his throat was itching and Dipper thought that _yes_ , that was exactly what he was.

_Jealous_.

The thought made him feel sick. He said, “Bill, I think we should go home.”

“Home? But we just got here, we-” he cut himself off when his eyes fell on Dipper. Suddenly, the amused twist of his mouth was gone, replaced by something more serious than Dipper had ever thought him capable of.

“Dipper,” he said, “are you okay?”

Bill pressed a hand to Dipper’s forehead and hissed when the heat burned his hand. 

“Okay,” Bill said. “I’m taking you home.”

Bill caught Dipper around the waist and, a second later, blue magic was swirling around them. _And not a second too soon,_ Dipper thought, because as soon as the electronic buzz of the club faded away, Dipper collapsed into Bill’s waiting arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! so, it's been a while, but i have an open day at a university i might be applying to tomorrow and i'm so nervous/excited that i can't sleep so i thought "I KNOW! Let's update this relic!" - anyway, round of applause for bill in a skirt and dipper being a sad, sad little man


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